Korean Court Rules Bitcoin Cannot Be Confiscated
The Suwon District Court in South Korea ruled on Friday that “bitcoin is not subject to confiscation,” the Kyunghyang Shinmun reported. This is the first time a court has ruled in Korea on the nature of digital currency, the publication noted.
Korean Court Rules Bitcoin Cannot Be ConfiscatedThe case involves Ahn, 33, who was indicted on suspicion of operating an illegal pornography site, avsnoop.club, which had approximately 1.2 million members. He was arrested in May for pocketing an alleged illegal 1.9 billion won in membership fees. The Southern Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency confiscated Ahn’s 216 bitcoins. It was the first time a domestic investigative agency seized digital currency as a criminal profit in Korea.
However, the court did not accept the prosecution’s confiscation of the bitcoins, the news outlet detailed, and quoted the court saying:
It is not appropriate to confiscate bitcoins because they are in the form of electronic files without physical entities, unlike cash…Virtual currency can not assume an objective standard value.
Full story at http://bit.ly/2xVM8gv
Source: Bitcoin News
Welcome to Canada, Bitcoin: Regulators Approve First Bitcoin Fund Manager
The British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) has approved First Block Capital Inc.’s first Bitcoin registration.
The Vancouver-based financial institution aims to be a registered fund manager and a market dealer to duly operate and circulate a Bitcoin investment fund in Ontario, Canada and British Columbia.
Canada has been consistently one of the few countries that embrace Blockchain and its potentials.
While other countries threaten to brand ICOs and cryptocurrencies as illegal, Canada has been exploring other possible ways to best regulate and embrace other potential use cases of the technology to improve its public services.
Full story at http://bit.ly/2xVMbJd
Source: CoinTelegraph
Professor Urges New Zealand Government to Develop Bitcoin Regulations
Head of Auckland University’s Commercial Law Department, Associate Professor Alex Sims, has urged the New Zealand government to legitimate bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies through developing a permissive regulatory apparatus. Sims argued that legitimating cryptocurrencies is imperative in order for the government to lay the groundwork required in order to facilitate the application of blockchain technology in a range of economic sectors. “The technological advances are compelling, which is extraordinary from something that only came up under 10 years ago,” Sims told Interest.co.nz.
Sims argues that New Zealand has “dropped the ball” with regards to cryptocurrency regulations, and that the NZ government should follow the example set by neighboring Australia. “You can use digital currencies – there is no law against it. But in practice, businesses aren’t able to accept digital currencies, because if they do, they get their bank accounts closed down… We’re behind, but we can catch up. We can follow what Australia is doing. And some government departments in New Zealand are looking very… closely at what Australia is doing.”
Last week, Australia’s Justice Minister revealed plans to amend its Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act to bring cryptocurrency exchange providers under the purview of its financial authorities, following the repealing of Australia’s double-taxation on bitcoin, and subsequent legalization of bitcoin as a means of payment.
Full story at http://bit.ly/2xVM8x1
Source: Bitcoin News
How Does Bitcoin And Cryptocurrency Work And How Can Entrepreneurs Capitalize On It?
It seems like everyone is talking about Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies nowadays. And in truth, there is more chatter surrounding this industry than ever before. To highlight this, take a look at this Google Trends report. It shows both of these terms at an all-time high for interest and search volume.
And with this rising level of interest, you’re seeing a niche that used to be considered quite fringe become mainstream. And this has a lot of people wondering how they can take advantage of the rise in activity. But especially, I think that entrepreneurs have a golden opportunity to get on board with blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. Here’s how.
First off, let me quickly explain how cryptocurrencies work and what the blockchain is. In the most basic of terms, a blockchain is a distributed ledger that can record transactions between parties. And it is maintained by a peer-to-peer network, or distributed computing systems all over the world.
Basically, it’s a record of transactions that is stored on many computers and is checked against itself for accuracy. Which means that it’s incredibly secure and resistant to modifications.
Full story at http://bit.ly/2xVM9kz
Source: Forbes
Lightning's Next Act: Decentralizing Bitcoin Mining?
Developer Chris Belcher has an idea for how to fix bitcoin mining – and it notably takes its inspiration from the network's much-discussed Lightning Network proposal.
The idea is notable in that it showcases both the evolving nature of bitcoin as a technology, as well as how its developers are finding new ways to explore long-established issues. For example, while the Lightning Network was proposed for tackling bitcoin's infamous scaling hurdles, Belcher believes the concept could help decentralize mining, thereby strengthening the protocol's value proposition as an censorship-resistant money.
It's an idea not without precedent. At least one mining pool, P2Pool has already tried to decentralize mining, but less than one percent of miners use it, primarily because it doesn't pay out miners in a timely way compared to more centralized options.
But using the "hub-and-spoke" payment channel model behind Lightning Network could help the pool increase how often payments are made, in turn making the pool more attractive to miners, according to Belcher, who's also the developer behind bitcoin privacy mixer JoinMarket.
Full story at http://bit.ly/2xVMaVF
Source: CoinDesk
Blockchain Enterprise Firms R3 And Ripple Sue Each Other Over $1 Billion Of Cryptocurrency
As blockchain companies have lost the spotlight this year to the burgeoning, hot world of crypto assets, two of the enterprise blockchain leaders, R3 and Ripple, are now embroiled in a dispute over the cryptocurrency XRP.
On Friday, in the Delaware Chancery Court, R3, a consortium of more than 80 financial institutions across the world, sued its partner Ripple, over an options contract to buy more than $1 billion worth of XRP. The same day, in a California state court in San Francisco, Ripple countersued.
R3 says in its lawsuit that in September 2016, the companies entered into an agreement, part of which gave R3 the option to purchase 5 billion XRP at an exercise price of $0.0085 between then and September 2019. After soaring more than 3,000% this year, XRP now trades at more than $0.20, making the options worth more than $1 billion.
San Francisco-based Ripple uses cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to make international wire transfers and other forms of cross-border exchange faster and cheaper. New York-based R3 uses similar technology, a distributed ledger which does not use cryptocurrency, as well as its consortium of financial institutions to make multiple banking functions more efficient.
Full story at http://bit.ly/2xX6Bld
Source: Forbes
Advertisement: