A growing online economy surrounds bitcoin, a payment option that serves as a type of digital currency both on and off the Internet. Though it's not technically money (the IRS has declared bitcoin property rather than currency), a growing number of retailers now accept the digital coins alongside traditional payment methods. In fact, the list of retailers accepting bitcoin continues to grow, and now includes big names such as Overstock.com, TigerDirect and Square Marketplace.
The biggest issue holding many retailers back from accepting bitcoin is the volatility of the coins' value. On Nov. 30, 2012, a single bitcoin was worth $12.57 USD, and just one year later, on Nov. 30, 2013, that value rose to $1,126.82 USD. These days the value tends to hover between $500 and $600 for a single bitcoin, but there's no reason why that amount couldn't change drastically at any moment.
Thanks to bitcoin exchanges such as Coinbase, retailers are finding ways to circumvent these risks. An option on Coinbase allows merchants to immediately convert bitcoins into U.S. dollars at the end of a transaction. As long as a company isn't holding any of its assets in bitcoin, it remains impervious to the market volatility.
Where to get bitcoins
The easiest way to purchase bitcoins is through a bitcoin exchange, such as Coinbase. The service works in a similar way to Paypal: users link to a bank account and then purchase coins at the current market rate. Coins are then stored in a virtual wallet held by Coinbase, or can be sent to another wallet.
Once you have your bitcoins, you'll want to keep them safe from theft. The now-defunct bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox notoriously got hacked, losing hundreds of millions of user’s dollars. Coinbase says it stores a vast majority of its bitcoins offline, keeping them safe from hacking. Alternatively, you can transfer your bitcoins to an offline storage drive or even print a piece of paper that represents your bitcoin wallet as if it were cash.
For most online retailers, making a purchase using bitcoin is similar to a wire-transfer payment. At checkout, a user selects the option to pay with bitcoin. The customer receives a unique wallet address — a long series of letters and numbers — with instructions to send the appropriate number of bitcoins.
Once the retailer confirms that the customer sent the payment, the order is completed and starts processing. However, because of bitcoin valuation changes, it's possible that you could purchase enough bitcoins for a transaction one day, and then not have enough when you try to place the order the next day.
Another risk is accidentally typing the wrong bitcoin wallet address when sending your payment. This isn't a big risk, though; you'll only lose your money if the mistyped address is valid, and there's a very small chance (approximately a 1 in 4 billion) of that happening. Otherwise, your send request will be invalid and you'll just need to send the bitcoins again.
Be warned: buying and selling bitcoin is now subject to taxation by the government. The IRS ruled in March that bitcoins are property, rather than a currency, and thus subject to ordinary income tax or capital gains taxes. While this means that people who earn money through bitcoin will now have to pay taxes on the profits, it also means that losses can be written off.
Businesses that accept bitcoin
Big Fish Games
Popular online game publisher Big Fish Games recently announced that it would accept bitcoins. Users can buy full games using the digital coins, or put their bitcoins toward in-app purchases. Online gaming giant Zynga has experimented with accepting bitcoin on one of its games, but Big Fish Games is the first major gaming platform to roll out bitcoin transactions across all its properties. Like most other retailers, Big Fish Games is partnering with Coinbase to immediately convert bitcoins into cash.
Public interest in bitcoin hit a new peak when Overstock announced in early 2014 that it would accept the digital coins as payment for all transactions. While Overstock wasn't the first online retailer to accept bitcoin, it was the first with real household name recognition. Patrick Byrne, the CEO of Overstock, is a self-described libertarian and added support for bitcoin transactions by striking a deal with Coinbase.
TigerDirect
Shortly after Overstock's announcement, the online tech company TigerDirect became the second major retailer to accept bitcoin. TigerDirect announced that customers could use bitcoins to make online purchases through Web and mobile, although in-store bitcoin transactions are not supported.
An electronics retailer seems like the perfect match for bitcoin transactions, since the coins exist entirely on computers, and one could theoretically generate (mine) bitcoins using equipment purchased with bitcoins. However, these days, the cost of mining bitcoins outweighs the profits, so TigerDirect's bitcoin support doesn't actually create a money-printing machine.
Square Market
Square, the mobile payments processor co-founded by Jack Dorsey, who also co-founded Twitter, announced it will support bitcoin transactions. For merchants, the checkout process is exactly the same as for credit card transactions. Customers will simply need to select the option to pay with bitcoin, send the appropriate amount of coins to the unique generated wallet address and wait for confirmation. Using Coinbase, Square instantly converts the bitcoin into the equivalent U.S. dollar value, posing zero risk to marketplace sellers.
OkCupid
Popular online dating site OkCupid announced in April 2013 that it would start accepting bitcoin for users who wanted to upgrade to a premium, A-List account. Forking over some bitcoin gives users the same features as a traditional payment upgrade, including a lack of advertising, advanced search filtering and the ability to hide yourself from showing up on someone's recent-visitor history.
OkCupid partnered with Coinbase to accept bitcoin, converting all bitcoin to cash at the end of each transaction. While immediately changing bitcoin to cash minimized OkCupid's risk, the company would have seen massive returns if it had held onto those original bitcoins. The value of a single bitcoin has more than doubled since OkCupid started accepting the digital money.
Tarsnap and PrivateInternetAccess
Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer payment system based on computers and the Internet, so it only makes sense that services such as Tarsnap and PrivateInternetAccess would accept the coins as payment. Both companies cater to the computer paranoid — Tarsnap is a secure and encrypted online backup service, and PrivateInternetAccess is a virtual private network (VPN) that masks users' Internet activities. Unlike an online retailer, which usually needs to ship a customer a physical product, Tarsnap and PrivateInternetAccess are almost completely anonymous when paid in bitcoin. PrivateInternetAccess uses BitPay to process the transactions, while Tarsnap uses Stripe, an online payment processor that just started accepting bitcoins.
Original article and pictures take www.tomsguide.com site
Here's how the brutal crypto sell-off has affected the market beyond bitcoin Divers explore a shipment of British toilets from the Yolanda wreck on November 9, 2015 in Red Sea, Egypt.
Divers explore a shipment of British toilets from the Yolanda wreck on November 9, 2015 in Red Sea, Egypt. Nigel Roddis/Getty Images
Bitcoin has had a rough 24 hours, but some alt-coins have had it much worse.
But among the world’s biggest cryptos — based on the metric of market capitalisation — bitcoin has still fared better than most.
A short time ago, the website coinmarketcap.com showed a 24-hour slump of more than 34% for the NEM token — which saw its ranking fall from the 5th to 8th largest in the world.
The Ripple XRP token — which recently had a surge in value that briefly made its founder one of the richest people in the world (on paper) — is also under pressure. It’s dipped by more than 35%.
Bitcoin’s price collapse has been sharp over the last 24 hours, but other alt-coins have fared worse.
A short time ago, bitcoin was trading at around $US10,500 after a brief rally — which saw it climb back above $US11,000 — ran out of steam.
This morning’s low beneath $US10,000 marked a fall of around 25% in less than 24 hours, and at current prices it’s still down by around 18% in that time.
But among the world’s biggest cryptos — based on the metric of market capitalisation — bitcoin has still fared better than most.
A short time ago, the website coinmarketcap.com showed a 24-hour slump of more than 34% for the NEM token — which saw its ranking fall from the 5th to 8th largest in the world.
The Ripple XRP token — which recently had a surge in value that briefly made its founder one of the richest people in the world (on paper) — is also under pressure. It’s dipped by more than 35%.
IOTA Coin is also down more than 30%, while Bitcoin Cash has lost around a quarter of its value and Bitcoin Gold is down by around one third.
Dash’s fall means it’s now dropped out of the Top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation.
Even NEO — a platform cryptocurrency that’s has been described as the Chinese version of Ethereum — is down by around 28%, although among the more established cryptocurrencies NEO has been the star performer in recent weeks.
Here’s the price action for NEO over the past month, via Investing.com:
The cryptocurrency market has lost $340 billion of value since the start of January, with a severe sell-off on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Analysts are variously blaming: concerns about regulation, light trading volumes in Asia, bitcoin futures, and an unsustainable price run-up.
Expect the volatility to continue this year, experts say.
LONDON — Bitcoin on Wednesday dropped below $10,000, almost 50% below its December peak, as the cryptocurrency market entered the second day of a sell-off.
Almost all major cryptocurrencies fell on Tuesday and the market slump has extended into Wednesday. The combined value of the more than 1,400 cryptocurrencies in circulation has fallen to about $460 billion on Wednesday from over $800 billion at the start of January, data from CoinMarketCap.com shows.
The causes of the sell-off are far from clear, with several theories making the rounds. Here's a roundup of what analysts and market participants are saying.
Worries about a regulatory crackdown
The most popular theory among market commentators is that fears about a regulatory crackdown in Asia are driving the sell-off.
"The sell-off comes amid concerns of fresh crackdowns on virtual currencies by the South Korean and Chinese government and as governments across the globe are struggling at how best to regulate bitcoin," Fiona Cincotta, an analyst with City Index, said in an email on Wednesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin smiles during a press conference.
Russian President Vladimir Putin smiles during a press conference. Reuters
Fawad Razaqzada, a market analyst with Forex.com, also said in an email on Wednesday: "Cryptos have been held back in recent days amid increasing levels of scrutiny from regulators, most notably in South Korea, where the government is planning to clamp down on trading in virtual currencies.
"The justice ministry is apparently working on a bill to ban cryptocurrency trading through exchanges. If the bill is eventually passed by the National Assembly, it would be very bad news, given that South Korea is the world's third-largest market for cryptocurrencies. The uncertainty is weighing on investor sentiment."
FXPro said in its daily client email on Tuesday that "the market seems overwhelmed by rumours regarding a complete currency ban in South Korea and the prohibition of mining in China due to high electricity consumption."
"What's more, it was today reported that Chinese financial authorities plan to block domestic access to cryptocurrency trading platforms," it added.
Asian volumes tailing off
Investors are already getting a taste of what a market without South Korean activity could look like — and this may also be playing a role in the cryptocurrency "bloodbath."
Mati Greenspan, an analyst with the trading platform eToro, told Business Insider on Tuesday that volumes from Japan and South Korea had been tailing off in recent days. Traders in these markets are usually buyers, and a large-scale exit could have created an imbalance in the market, with more sellers than buyers driving down prices and sparking a panic.
"As we noted yesterday, there's been a trend from South Korea and Japan of lower volumes these last few weeks," Greenspan said in a note to clients on Wednesday. "That did indeed come up a bit yesterday but is still nowhere near what it was in November/December."
Greenspan provided these graphs from CryptoCompare.com showing how Korean won bitcoin volume had recently declined:
eToro
A similar chart shows the same trend with Japanese yen bitcoin buying:
eToro
Greenspan said the pickup in volumes on Tuesday showed that "the two countries, especially Japan, are indeed starting to nibble at the lower prices."
"Indeed, the premiums have also come down a bit, and price in the top two crypto trading countries are now more normal compared to the rest of the world," he added.
Perhaps the wildest theory about what's driving the cryptocurrency crash is that the maturing of the first bitcoin futures contracts is to blame.
Cboe and CME Group both introduced bitcoin futures contracts in mid-December, allowing institutional investors such as hedge funds to speculate on the future price of the digital currency.
The first bitcoin contracts, which are cash-settled, matured on Wednesday. The contract's settlement price is determined by a price auction on the Gemini exchange at 4 p.m. on Tuesday.
Some people are speculating that aggressive selling activity could have been used to drive down the price of bitcoin on the exchange and turn the futures contracts into winning bets.
"Back-of-the-envelope calculations ... suggest that as little as a million dollars could be used to shore up futures positions and influence the auction market," said an EthNews report by Matthew De Silva on the theory.
A trader in the S&P futures pit at the CME Group in Chicago.
A trader in the S&P futures pit at the CME Group in Chicago. REUTERS/John Gress
CNBC, which also floated the idea, reported that Cboe's January 17 maturing bitcoin futures were priced at $10,000 on Tuesday afternoon, meaning that holders, in theory, had an incentive to push the price down by selling bitcoins they may have held as a hedge.
Meanwhile, a popular Reddit thread says a sudden drop in the bitcoin price could have spooked the market.
"It's always fun to spin these types of stories, but personally, I don't buy into it," Greenspan told Business Insider.
"No. 1, the entire market crashed, not just bitcoin," he said. "All the altcoins plummeted as well, and Wall Street only has access to the bitcoin futures, which is fairly disconnected from bitcoin itself and certainly from the likes of Litecoin and Dash.
"Second point, the volumes that have been traded on these futures contracts are not sufficient to move the markets."
Greenspan said the total trade of Cboe's January 17 bitcoin contracts was about $1 billion in the month since they launched.
"Daily market volume on bitcoin is today $14.5 billion," he said. "One billion over the course of a month, I don't think, is going to tickle anything."
Thomas Bertani, the CEO of the cryptocurrency-wallet company Eidoo, which has a cryptocurrency, agreed with Greenspan.
"It might have played a role," he said, "but those price movements are all but new."
Other cryptocurrencies rose alongside bitcoin, and many market watchers argued that this created unsustainable bubble-like market conditions. The recent crash is just some of the air coming out of the bubble, Bertani says.
Pawel Kuskowski, the CEO of Coinfirm. Coinfirm
"The last year has seen once again a massive growth and hype cycle (like it did already several times before) which needs to go back to normal after the current hype has reached its peak," he said. "This is most likely what is going on now."
Bertani added: "The hypothesis of South Korea banning cryptocurrencies, more than a driving factor, is really just an excuse for the market to rest down for a little bit before continuing with its continuous growth."
Pawel Kuskowski, the CEO and founder of Coinfirm, which provides cryptocurrency compliance services, told Business Insider on Wednesday that it was "a correction, a long-expected correction."
"It was just for too long going up and up and up," he said. "Ether, in two months, went up from $300 to $1,300. That's absurd. Just crazy."
He added: "I think there are some positions that are being closed at the moment, but I don't think it's going to be a big negative impact. The correction was quite needed because it was just absurd what was happening."
Expect more volatility
While Kuskowski doesn't expect any long-term negative effect on the sector from the currency sell-off, he thinks we are likely to see more of this type of volatility for the foreseeable future.
"I think it's going to stabilise probably not this year, but probably within three or four years," he told Business Insider. "You're going to have more checks and balances, but in principle, it's going to be a crazy world for another one year, two years, that's for sure. You're going to see more and more volatility, but then it's stabilisation."
Christopher Keshian, a managing partner and founder of Apex Token Fund, agreed.
"The volatility of bitcoin — and other cryptocurrencies — is an expected, and important, part of the journey to becoming a mature asset class," he said in an email. "We expect the volatility to continue throughout 2018 but fundamentally believe that bitcoin is still in a bull market."
EXCLUSIVE FREE REPORT:
The Bitcoin 101 Report by the BI Intelligence Research Team.
Central bank meetings will dominate next week’s economic calendar as the Bank of England, the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand meet to set monetary policy. All three are expected to stand pat but surprises could be in store for the markets as policymakers adjust their outlook following recent developments […]
The foreign exchange market, or forex, confuses many people due to the complexity involved. The forex provides a global, decentralized market for trading currencies and determines the relative values of various currencies. While this seems complicated to many, follow these simple tips to better understand the forex and what takes place in this market. While […]
China’s official manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMIs for the month of January are both scheduled for release on Wednesday at 0100 GMT. According to forecasts, the manufacturing index is set to tick down, while the non-manufacturing print is anticipated to remain unchanged, albeit at a level consistent with healthy expansion in the sector. Even though a slight slowdown […]
Raising interest rates is what the Fed is highly anticipated to do in 2018 as part of its plan to tighten monetary policy. However, the timing and the speed of the rate adjustment remains in question as long as inflation shows little sign of accelerating towards the central bank’s target. On Friday, the Bureau of […]
No doubt, you have worked hard for the money you have earned! Now, you have some extra that you can afford to invest. Where can you turn? Some have found success in FOREX trading. Read the article following to see what others have to say about it: Start small when you enter the forex market. […]
The coming week will feature numerous important releases that definitely have the potential to lead to notable movements in forex markets, though it will lack a release of the magnitude of the US nonfarm payrolls report that hit markets during this past week. Among the highlights in the coming days will be Chinese trade data, […]
Trading in foreign currencies on the forex market may seem like a great way to get rich quickly, but many beginning traders soon find themselves falling prey to common mistakes. Don’t share their fate. Instead, by applying a few basic ideas that you will learn in this article, you can enjoy success and reap steady […]
Japan will see the release of November inflation figures on Monday at 2330 GMT. Core inflation, the measure targeted by the Bank of Japan, is expected to remain steady at 0.8% on an annual basis, well below the central bank’s target of 2.0%. Despite core CPI undershooting the BoJ’s target and being one of the […]
Markets will begin to get back to normal in the first week of 2018 following the Christmas and New Year breaks. PMI surveys will dominate the economic calendar, but traders will likely be most looking forward to the US nonfarm payrolls report to inject much needed life into the lacklustre US dollar. The coming week […]
In the beginning, understanding the ins and outs of forex trading is not easy for most people. The problem is, these people are not given the right advice. That is why you are in luck– the following article is going to give you relevant advice that will hopefully help you become and expert at forex. […]
The next seven days look set to be extremely quiet due to the shortened Christmas holiday week, with many markets closed on Monday and Tuesday. Japan and the United States will be the only major countries releasing data, though Australian private lending figures on Friday could also attract some attention. Volumes are expected to be […]
The foreign exchange market is a great platform for those who wish to develop their trading skills. The forex market allows new traders to enter and assist in the conversion of international currency. Forex trading requires discipline, hard work, determination and knowledge. The information in the following article will give you the necessary knowledge to […]
The Fed expressed that it is planning to tighten monetary policy in the coming years even if inflation continues to undershoot its target. However, a surprising rise in the core PCE index on Friday might raise the odds of further rate hikes in the future and relief policymakers that the current monetary policy direction is the right one. This would also provide some support […]
Central bank activity will continue next week with policy meetings of the Bank of Japan and Sweden’s Riksbank. It will be a relatively quieter one though for economic indicators, except in the United States, which will see several big data releases, including personal consumption expenditure figures, housing numbers and durable goods. But happenings in Capitol […]
Forex is by some estimates the largest financial market in the globe, given the sheer amount of dollars and other currencies available. This makes Forex trading both alluring in potential and intimidating in raw magnitude. Before you begin entering the fray, or if you want to improve your current game, read on into this article […]
The Federal Reserve minutes of the October 31-November 1 meeting are due at 1900 GMT with investors being on the lookout for any signals on the outlook of monetary policy. Communication by Fed officials has broadly supported the view for an additional rate hike – the third such move this year – to be delivered […]
If you are completely new to the world of currency trading, then you are probably thinking that some tips on smarter currency trading will help you so that you can begin making better trades and bigger profits. Listed below are some tips to get you started with your currency trading endeavors. Avoid buying any product […]
With few exciting data releases on the calendar next week, attention will likely drift to central bank speeches and meeting minutes, developments on the US tax reform front and the UK Autumn budget. RBA, ECB and Fed publish their minutes Three central banks will release the minutes of their recent monetary policy meetings: the Reserve […]
There is no guarantee when it comes to forex trading, but having the right information can give your efforts a greater chance for success. When you know the smart thing to do, you can move with greater confidence and get ahead of all the rest. Take a few minutes to look for a tip in […]
Following a disappointing report on Australian wage growth on Wednesday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics is due to give an outline on the state of the labor market at 0030GMT on Thursday. Unlike wage forecasts which projected a rise in earnings, analysts anticipate the economy to create fewer jobs in October, maintaining the unemployment and participation rates steady at their previous levels. If the […]
Economic data will move to the forefront next week as the focus moves away from central bank meetings to price, employment and consumer spending indicators. Canada, the Eurozone, the UK and the US all release CPI numbers. Jobs reports are due from Australia and the UK, and retail sales figures will be published in China, […]
People who understand that knowledge is the key to wise investing are the people who are rich from investing. The many people who go broke investing, well, they’re the folks who thought they could read the proverbial tea leaves and ended up feeding the accounts of the knowledgeable few. Make sure you side with the […]
The Reserve Bank of Zealand will tomorrow complete its meeting on monetary policy with the interest rate decision and monetary policy statement due at 2000 GMT. New Zealand’s central bank is not expected to deliver a significant shift in monetary policy, maintaining its official cash rate at the record low of 1.75%. Tomorrow’s meeting will […]
Many investors are attracted to the foreign exchange market (Forex) because of the potential profits that can be made quickly. However, it does not come without risks. If you spend some time learning how the experts trade in Forex, you can minimize those risks. Follow these suggestions which will help you avoid costly mistakes. To […]
The Reserve Bank of Australia is due to announce its latest policy decision on Tuesday amid a mixed outlook for the economy. Australia’s central bank is almost certain to hold rates unchanged at 1.5% following disappointing inflation and retail sales numbers for the third quarter. Rising household debt has been holding back consumer spending, with […]
Policymakers at the US Federal Reserve begin a two-day monetary policy meeting today with an announcement expected at 18:00 GMT on Wednesday. With no move in rates anticipated at the November meeting and no accompanying press conference, the event is unlikely to receive much reaction in financial markets, especially as there is a bigger focus […]
If you are exploring all the investment options that are available to you at some point in time you just have to consider the foreign exchange market. The foreign exchange market provides the opportunity to trade at all hours of the day, and on margins that other investment markets don’t offer. Here are some helpful […]
In a relatively light calendar week, US economic indicators will be at the forefront, along with data out of China, the Eurozone and the United Kingdom. Inflation and retail sales numbers will be the highlights coming out of the United States, while industrial output and trade data will be the focus in non-US markets. The […]
Investing your money in a foreign currency exchange account, can be both exciting and risky. The best traders are the ones who know that educating themselves is the key to minimizing forex risk. This article shares a few tips that you can employ to make your forex trading experience, more profitable and less dangerous. Patience […]
Just a week after an indecisive general election outcome in Germany threatened to derail the euro rally, a separatist vote in Spain’s Catalonia region on Sunday has further dampened sentiment for the single currency at the start of trading in the fourth quarter. The pound has also started the new quarter on a weak note […]
The pound climbed by almost 1% on Tuesday during the European trading hours, hitting a one-year high against the greenback and extending gains versus the euro after the widely expected UK inflation figures for the month of August came in stronger than expected. With consumer prices rising to a four-year high reached first on May, BOE policymakers will […]
The word forex alone makes people think they can make money, while at the same time, is very confusing. A lot of people know they can make money with forex but aren’t sure how. The thing to remember though is you have to have the knowledge to understand the market. The more tips you learn […]
Industrial output and retail sales data will dominate the economic calendar week, and inflation and employment will also be in focus. However, the week looks set to be a less dramatic one from the past seven days with policy meetings by the Bank of England and the Swiss National Bank unlikely to bring much surprises. […]
Original article and pictures take myhobbymypassion.org site
Government Head of IT Department Fired for Mining Bitcoin Using State-Owned Computers in Crimea
Two government officials of the Crimean Council of Ministers were caught mining bitcoin using government computers and were subsequently fired. They reportedly installed “malicious software” on the government’s server and programmed over a dozen computers to mine bitcoin.
The Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Committee of the Republic of Crimea, Alexander Akshatin, said at a press conference last week in Sevastopol that two employees of the Crimean Council of Ministers were caught mining bitcoin using government properties, RIA Novosti reported. One was the head of the IT department and the other was the department’s head of hardware and technical support. Both were subsequently dismissed, Akshatin revealed, adding that:
They put malicious software on the server of the Crimean government, which opened access to the information stored on it. Concurrently, more than a dozen computers in the basement of the building were also used which gave this same access.
Fired Before Cashing Out
Government Officials Fired for Mining Bitcoin Using State-Owned Computers in Crimea
Akshatin detailed that his committee and the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) were able to identify the activities of the Council of Ministers’ employees in time and subsequently fired them before they had time to cash out. As for how much they were able to mine, he said, “I cannot exactly say, but less than one bitcoin.” He then noted that “in February-March 2017, a bitcoin was $1800, now it costs $4000. Even half a bitcoin is some money.”
“They thought that there was nothing wrong with that,” Akshatin told the press. “But if we were not on the alert and some limited information went through this channel, you understand the extent to which this could all turn out. Fortunately, this did not happen.” He believes that their dismissals will deter anyone from doing the same in the future.
Cryptocurrencies in Crimea
In July, the Russian Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev said on the “Russia 24” TV channel that the ministry was ready to consider allowing the circulation of cryptocurrencies in Crimea in order to “stimulate foreign tourism,” Tass reported at the time. He was quoted saying:
People say, let’s ban cryptocurrencies…it will not work. People will continue to use bitcoins in a cafe as cash.
Alexei Moiseev.
President Vladimir Putin’s internet ombudsman, Dmitry Marinichev, also proposed allowing the use of cryptocurrencies in Crimea, according to Lenta. He said in February that the establishment of cryptocurrency exchanges in Crimea would attract new investments into the region.
When the Deputy Finance Minister suggested using digital currencies to attract tourists into the region, Russia was working on a bill to regulate cryptocurrencies. The bill was supposed to be introduced last month, but was delayed due to a lack of consensus. Following the National Council for Financial Stability meeting last week, headed by First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, the authorities decided to postpone their plans to regulate cryptocurrencies to next year.
What do you think of the two government officials that were fired for mining bitcoin at work? Let us know in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Cnbc.
Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.
Golf Tips – Enhance Your Golf Swings By Improving Your Tempo
Ben Hogan was a great golfer and he actually had a swing secret. He found out about it in 1949, which is when he was involved in a car accident. If you take a look at page 30 on The Stress-Free Golf Swing, there’s a quote from a player. The player, who played with Hogan in the 50s, said Hogan told him he had a vivid dream about a golfer from Scotland that performed a swing move that was unique.
The golfer was told by Hogan that he was going to use the swing that he dreamed about. On page 31 and page 32 of the book, you can see before pictures of Hogan’s swing and after pictures of his swing. This right here proves that he did something after the car accident that improve his ability to strike the ball.
Golf should be fun and stress-free, but it’s really not a stress-free experience if your golf swing needs improvement. However, you will finally be able to enjoy a great golf swing. That is if you decide to try out The Stress-Free Golf Swing.
There are other benefits you’ll get with this, such as you’ll learn how to perform one move that can improve your swing. The chances are you’ve never really focused on this move. Not only that, but you will finally not have a bunch of to do lists running through your head when you take your swing. You’ll finally be able to play golf and not golf swing.
Your swing will be more powerful and you’ll hit the ball straighter, longer and more consistently. You will trust your golf swing every single time. This is because it will be effective, yet simple at the same time.
You’ll finally enjoy hitting the ball more effectively. Not only that, but your swing will be body friendly. Remember, Hogan’s striking improved with age, and the chances are your striking and swing ability will improve as time goes on. When you know what to do, you will enjoy golfing more than you’ve ever had before, so go ahead and give The Stress-Free Golf Swing a try today.
Original article and pictures take thegolferdeals.com site
Gobierno de Estados Unidos subastará Bitcoin y Bitcoin Cash confiscado de la Dark Web
Un juzgado del estado de Utah en Estados Unidos, aprobó el día de ayer una subasta de fondos de BTC y BCH, los cuales se confiscaron a un operador de la Dark Web, el precio de la cantidad de monedas subastadas al cambio de hoy en día es de 8.9 millones de dólares.
El involucrado es Aaron Michael Samo, quién había sido encontrado culpable por realizar tráfico de drogas y lavado de dinero, junto a él trabajaban otros tres operadores de la dark web de forma encubierta. El resultado fue la confiscación de las criptomonedas de los delincuentes, para posteriormente trasladarlas bajo la custodia del United Stated Marhals Service.
Por los momentos, el gobierno de Estados Unidos no ha reconocido a las criptomonedas como un activo financiero oficial, por ende no actúa en función del mercado al momento de su venta. En octubre del año pasado se conocieron las ventas de alrededor de 144.000 bitcoins confiscados entre los años 2014 y 2015, dicha acción fue resultado del cierre del mercado ilegal de drogas Silk Road en el año 2013.
Además de esto, en 2016 el gobierno de Estados Unidos organizó una subasta de 2.719 BTC que habían sido incautados en nueve procesos judiciales, incluyendo los de Ross Ulbricht y Carl Force vinculados a Silk Road. Muchos consideran que la subida de precios en las criptomonedas tuvo una relación directa con los precios judiciales, pues si comparamos el valor de moneda en el mercado al momento de la incautación hasta ahora pues está muy por encima. A la fecha el BTC tiene un precio de USD$ 14.900 mientras que el BCH ronda en los USD$ 2380.
Original article and pictures take cdn.coincrispy.com site
.gif)
