Bitcoin

Preserving your online privacy has become almost a lost cause these days. Thankfully, some entrepreneurial minds have taken it upon themselves to help web users stay informed of privacy risks and take action to thwart attempts to access their personal data. Guard is a platform which is doing exactly that. Also read: Bankers Start to Recognize Bitcoin’s Role in Financial Evolution Reading the User Agreement Everyone has multiple online accounts, and most of us are worried about their digital personality being targeted by data collectors and marketing researchers. But we are also guilty of compromising our own security as very few people actually read the small print when subscribing to a service. The people behind Guard have analyzed the privacy policies of major social networks, forums, and messengers, including some of those that are widely used by the crypto community. Their quest has produced some interesting and helpful results. The developers have examined the user agreeme

The Los Angeles-based Wave Financial has announced the launch of a bitcoin derivatives-based yield fund and Fidelity will provide custody for the fund’s BTC reserves. Wave Financial’s crypto fund commencement is part of a growing trend toward launching BTC derivatives products. CME Group has also revealed the derivatives marketplace will provide options on its bitcoin futures during the first quarter of 2020. Also read: Fidelity’s Cryptocurrency Arm Starts Offering Institutional Investor Services Wave Financial Launches Bitcoin Derivatives Yield Fund Option strategies are becoming a popular trend within the cryptocurrency industry and just recently Wave Financial started a new bitcoin derivatives-based yield fund. A derivative is basically a contract that derives its value from the price of things like commodities, currencies, stocks, and bonds. Since 2017, BTC market prices have been used for indexes and market sentiment data. With these instruments, financial institutions cre

Central banks worldwide continue to inject more stimulus into the economy as they predict the onset of a new financial crisis. In the face of a sluggish economy, monetary easing, negative interest rates, and ‘normalizing’ the balance sheet is the name of the game these days. Now central banks are contemplating even more unconventional methods of monetary policy like helicopter money to save the economy. Also Read: Money and Democracy: Why You Never Get to Vote on the Most Important Part of Society Rate Cuts, Negative Yeilding Bonds, Overnight Repos, and Now Helicopter Money The world’s reserve banks are attempting to guide the economy in hopes that they can steer clear of a financial meltdown. There’s been a domino effect of monetary easing where at least 19 central banks have slashed interest rates, participated in large-scale asset purchases, cut reserve requirement ratios, purchased debt securities, and pumped billions into specific markets. For instance, during the third week

The heavy hand of regulators has been stifling the growth of the cryptocurrency industry in the U.S. and caused innovators to flock abroad. In a bid to mitigate one aspect of this problem, major players have now created a joint system for rating what constitutes a security token. Also Read: International Crypto Exchange Luno Adds Bitcoin Cash Trading Uniting Against Regulatory Uncertainty A group of digital finance companies has announced the formation of the Crypto Rating Council, a member-operated organization created to help market participants comply with U.S. federal securities laws. The founding members of this new industry body are Anchorage, Bittrex, Circle, Coinbase, DRW Cumberland, Genesis, Grayscale Investments and Kraken. The purpose of the Crypto Rating Council is to provide a joint assessment of whether a specific token should be considered a security under U.S. law. This definition has direct legal implications on companies that trade and manage digital assets in t

Obtaining reliable information about darknet markets (DNMs) is a constant struggle, given the propensity of news sites and forums to come and go. No sooner has one portal gained ascendancy than it’s been toppled by law enforcement or exited under mysterious circumstances. The recent disappearance of darknet forum Dread has left a gaping hole in the DNM community – and a host of unanswered questions. Also read: Despite Setbacks, Darknet Markets Show Continuous Growth in 2019 Hugbunter Flicks the Dead Man’s Switch Dread is dead. The darknet forum where buyers and sellers gathered to exchange links, rate vendors, and discuss opsec has been offline for almost a fortnight. The site didn’t hold cryptocurrency deposits or directly facilitate DNM transactions, but was nevertheless a crucial cog in the darknet economy. The site went offline 10 days ago, prompting speculation as to what may have happened to its pseudonymous admin, Hugbunter. DNM tracker site dark.fail currently displays a w

Banks are laying off workers across the globe as revenue declines throughout the sector. According to reports, banks have announced nearly 60,000 job cuts so far this year, with most of the layoffs happening in Europe, especially in Germany. Also read: Panic at 137 Bank Branches as RBI Limits Withdrawals to ₹1,000 Almost 60,000 Job Cuts Bank employees are being laid off worldwide. Negative interest rates, political uncertainty and threats of trade wars on a global level have all played their part in eroding banks’ balance sheets, along with interest rate cuts which further reduce margins. According to year-to-date company filings and labor union disclosures compiled by Bloomberg, banks have announced that they are cutting 58,200 jobs so far this year. The biggest layoffs are in Europe, where 52,424 jobs, or 90% of the total layoffs, are being slashed, as the European banking sector continues to struggle with profitability. Moreover, 2,769 workers in North America are being let go,

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released a new report and infographic on Thursday illustrating unpaid or underpaid taxes for the years 2011 – 2013. The numbers reflect estimates based on the last such findings, for the years 2008 – 2010. With commissioner Chuck Rettig citing the importance of voluntary compliance, and crypto’s popularity on the rise, the IRS is growing increasingly concerned with opportunities for tax evasion afforded by the new digital money. Also Read: Bitcoin Is a Viable Way to Remove the State From Your Life Voluntary Compliance The new report and colorful, accompanying infographic don’t show anything out of range from the agency’s estimates last go-round, which found that 83.8% of taxes were paid “voluntarily and on time” for the years 2008 – 2010. The new data shows an 83.6% rate, which is basically unchanged, but also doesn’t show any marked improvement, either. The gross tax gap for the current data has $441 billion in taxes unpaid and/or underrepo

The last decade has seen central banks print trillions of dollars, governments grown much larger, wars continue with no end, and ordinary citizens taxed even more. Thankfully there are individuals and small pockets of people all around the world who believe something is wrong. Many of these people have a plan to help end the illegitimacy of the nation states. Whether it be through protests, unschooling, and spreading stateless education, there are various methods available in this day and age. Bitcoin and the cryptoconomy are also great forms of protest, providing an experiment of voluntarily trade in an untaxed, unregulated economy. Also read: Software Engineer Reveals Oracle Creation Platform for Bitcoin Cash Satoshi’s Invention Unleashed an Alternative to the Rigged Financial System Despite the negativity surroundings the failures of governments worldwide, some people have a strategy to fight back. As the years have progressed, bureaucrats have continued to plunder the everyday

Luno exchange has added bitcoin cash trading to the platform following feedback from its client base. BCH is now only the third cryptocurrency available for trading on the exchange, in addition to BTC and ETH , but more options could be on the way once Luno determines that they are credible enough. Also Read: Bitflyer Adds Bitcoin Cash Trading Across Europe and the US Luno Adds Bitcoin Cash Trading Luno, the London-headquartered company formerly known as Bitx, recently announced that bitcoin cash was made available on its cryptocurrency exchange. Starting from Monday, September 23, customers at Luno are now able to store, buy and sell BCH on the platform. The reason given for adding BCH to the exchange is feedback from users in developing markets that convinced Luno to expand their offering from previously just BTC and ETH . Marcus Swanepoel, CEO of Luno, said , “We are in a new and exciting financial era. Developing economies are leading the large-scale adoption and appli