As the week comes to a close, let us reflect on and digest all the news — most of which was negative, that happened in the cryptocurrency arena affecting Bitcoin price.
Oh Look, Another Exchange Hack
Tuesday evening, popular South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb reported a system breach that resulted in approximately $31 million worth of cryptocurrencies being stolen. Coincidentally, in the days following the hack, there was a large marketwide dip — Bitcoin and Ethereum dropped 11 and 15 percent, respectively.
Even those who don’t use Bithumb weren’t very pleased after the hack — as Bitcoin transaction speeds and fees soared, due to the exchange moving huge amounts of cryptocurrencies away from its hot wallets.
On a small positive note, Bithumb promised to fully reimburse all those who had cryptocurrency stolen from them.
(More) Trouble In Paradise For EOS
Decentralized application platform EOS has had a bumpy road since finally rolling out their mainnet last week — which was two weeks behind schedule. EOS drew more criticism this week when the team of 21 voted block producers circumvented their own council of arbitration and froze seven accounts that were accused of holding stolen funds. Many critics argue that EOS is guilty of violating ‘decentralization’ and ‘immutability’, the most basic essences of blockchain technology.
India’s Crypto Confusion
Zebpay — ‘India’s Leading Bitcoin And Cryptocurrency Exchange’ announced on Thursday, possible disruptions to their bank accounts due to an April circular from the Reserve Bank Of India (RBI). The circular states:
[…]with immediate effect, entities regulated by the Reserve Bank shall not deal in Virtual Currencies (VCs) or provide services for facilitating any person or entity in dealing with or settling VCs. Such services include maintaining accounts, registering, trading, settling, clearing, giving loans against virtual tokens, accepting them as collateral, opening accounts of exchanges dealing with them and transfer / receipt of money in accounts relating to purchase/ sale of VCs.
India remains ambiguous in its overall view on cryptocurrency and digital assets — causing a lot of uncertainty for those already invested, and fear for those who may be looking to get in.
Flat 10% Tax For South Korea, Or Flat Out Lies?
In an article released by South Korean daily news publication The Chosunilbo — claims were made for a flat 10 percent tax levy on income from cryptocurrencies. The article quoted a government official as stating:
“Gains on investments in cryptocurrencies will be taxed at a fixed rate regardless of the amount, which is expected to be in the 10-percent range.”
This claim, however, was countered by The South Korean Ministry Of Strategy And Finance who told Business Korea that it has no defined plans for the taxation of income from digital goods.
Until any official government statement is released pertaining to the taxation of cryptocurrencies — any news claiming such knowledge, especially without any concrete source, must be taken with a grain of salt.
ATTENTION — NANO Tweet Warns Mobile Wallet Users
Cryptocurrency NANO — formerly RaiBlocks, tweeted out a desperate warning yesterday, about a security flaw with the new Android mobile wallet seed generator.
ATTENTION ANYONE WHO GENERATED A SEED USING THE ANDROID WALLET, IMMEDIATELY MOVE YOUR FUNDS TO ANOTHER WALLET DERIVED FROM A DIFFERENT SEED. ATTENTION
This security flaw came to light just hours after launching the new Android mobile wallet and cause quite a panic in the community. The problem was fixed in a wallet update that was released a few hours after the scare.
BitFlyer Wants To Get To Know You
Japan’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, BitFlyer announced it would be immediately closing new account registrations in accordance with a Business Improvement Order from Japan’s Financial Service Authority.
This order is the result of a nationwide industry ‘clean-up’ aiming to improve security and transparency in the dealings of digital assets in Japan. The focus on risk management could mean that customers in Japan will need to resubmit verification documents and possibly provide additional personal and financial records in order to use Japanese cryptocurrency exchanges in the future.
Okay — Some Positive News
As cryptocurrency prices settle at all-time lows in 2018, and we are bombarded with negative news articles from all sides — is there any solace to be found?
Last word for on $BTC for a while (w/arithmetic graph). Trend is down, charts are presently ugly. But, BTC has dropped $13,700 from high. Now is NOT the time to become a BTC bear, though I'm not bullish yet. pic.twitter.com/PGlwCfuMf4
— Peter Brandt (@PeterLBrandt) June 23, 2018
Absolutely.
This week, The U.S. Securities And Exchange Commission (SEC) announced it would not be classifying Bitcoin and Ethereum as securities. With no SEC regulations, cryptocurrencies can continue to work towards the end goal of total financial decentralization.
Yesterday, Ethereum Co-Founder and previous CEO Charles Hoskinson reminded everyone that the ‘future is bright‘ in the cryptocurrency markets. Hoskinson is confident that the low prices of cryptocurrencies and the backing off of the SEC will likely give green lights to many institutional investors with large amounts of money who have been waiting on the sidelines — an entrance point into the market.