Japan's largest Internet company Rakuten Inc., announced today it has started to accept Bitcoin as a payment option on its American portal Rakuten.com. The company said this first integration should b
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Japan’s Rakuten Becomes largest E-Commerce Business to accept Bitcoin
Japan's largest Internet company Rakuten Inc., announced today it has started to accept Bitcoin as a payment option on its American portal Rakuten.com. The company said this first integration should b
Monday, March 16, 2015
Isle of Man Preparing to Pass Digital Currency Regulatory Framework
The Isle of Man wants to become a leading Bitcoin hub and attract digital fintech businesses, entrepreneurs and developers, Business Insider reports. The government of the tiny island is about to pass a new regulatory framework to create a true paradise for digital currencies.
The Isle of Man is a self-governing British Crown dependency located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland.
While the United Kingdom is responsible for the island’s defense and foreign policy, the local parliament and government have power over all domestic matters. Business regulations and tax incentives are domestic matters, so the island has the freedom to pass innovative legislation and tax incentives to attract digital fintech firms and professionals.
In fact, the Isle of Man has long been a favorite location for online businesses that need a permissive regulatory climate. For example, it has a world-class reputation as an online gaming and sports betting hub that offers a friendly and agile regulatory environment to the operators and at the same time provides strong legal protection to their customers worldwide.
The new regulatory framework for digital fintech will be informed by the same principles, and may permit restoring the support of the leading U.K. banks that in 2014, scared by the high volatility of bitcoin, stopped working with the digital currency industry on the island.
Brian Donegan, the Isle of Man’s head of operations for digital development and e-business, told CoinDesk that the government is moving aggressively to put key measures in place that would help the region’s budding digital currency industry thrive.
The Proceeds of Crime Act, which has been altered to account for digital currencies, is expected to come into force at the start of April. A new legislation, the Designated Businesses Bill, will regulate the activities of businesses responsible for holding sums of money, including Bitcoin exchanges.
Peter Greenhill , head of e-commerce for the Isle of Man, told Business Insider that the aim is to be the most attractive place in the world for cryptocurrency companies to work from, with “friendly but firm legislation” for digital currency startups.
“We have the regulations and infrastructure in place to become a world leader in digital currencies,” he said. “We already have companies coming in and setting up. We see this as the future and we want to be at the center of development in this area.”
It may seem odd that firmly enforced regulations are presented as an advantage for companies operating in a frontier industry that is often threatened by regulators, but Greenhill considers it a necessary step to foster trust in the use of digital currencies.
“These companies will be listed on a register that will be strictly controlled by the island’s Financial Supervision Commission,” he told Computer Weekly. “They will hold their records, have them audited, looked at, and if they see something untoward they’ll take those people off that register and make sure the world knows about it. We set the bar high, and if people don’t meet [our requirements], they can go somewhere else.”
It appears that the Isle of Man is aligning with the current trend of fostering the emerging Bitcoin economy and taking it mainstream, but under a firm regulatory framework.
Isle of Man image via Flickr.
Online Bitcoin Trading Takes Root in Africa
It is a well-documented fact that Africa has a huge number of unbanked, which in some countries goes beyond 70%, and also incurs very high costs of money transmission. It follows then that when Bitcoi
Bringing Back the Best: This Week on Decentral Talk Live
Decentral has recently moved its offices. As a result, decentral.tv is in the process of creating a new and improved studio. So this week, we revisit some of our best episodes that also aim to shed some light on topics that you’ll see in the news this week.
We start off with an episode from December 2014 when Dmitry Murashchik of Mycelium was our guest. This week, Mycelium will be shipping out their first, sold-out batch of brand new Entropy devices. Entropy is a small USB device that uses hardware-based entropy to generate printable Bitcoin paper wallets. Find out more about Mycelium and Entropy on Monday’s featured episode of Decentral Talk Live.
On Tuesday, we go back to TNABC Las Vegas for an interview with Patrick Cines of the College Crypto Network. CCN is involved in plenty of projects these days, including a Bitcoin Charity Summit at USC. Find out more about how young Bitcoiners are spreading the word about digital currencies in their colleges and communities.
Every day on various community chat boards, people ask, “How do I know which wallet is best for me and how do I make sure it’s secure?” CryptoCurrency Certification Consortium (C4) president, Michael Perklin, sat down with co-hosts Anthony Di Iorio and Ethan Wilding to break down the various types of wallets and important steps that users need to take to secure their funds.
It’s tax season, so figuring out how to include bitcoin on a tax return is on people’s minds these days. On Thursday, decentral.tv will try to shed some light on a complex issue by highlighting an interview with Jake Benson of LibraTax. Find out more about keeping more of your money while staying on the right side of tax legislation on this featured episode of Decentral Talk Live.
Ending the week on a positive note, DTL brings back its popular interview with Connie Gallippi, founder of the BitGive Foundation. Gallippi has worked tirelessly to enable the Bitcoin community to support charitable work by organizations such as Save the Children and the Water Project. BitGive is the first registered Bitcoin charity in the space. It recently formed a partnership with ChangeTip that allows users to automatically redirect their tips to BitGive. BitGive is also part of the 1% Initiative with Purse.io and Chain to save customers money and donate 1 percent to charity.
Past episodes of Decentral Talk Live can be found on the decentral.tv playlist. Featured episodes will be showcased at 3 pm EDT, Monday-Friday on decentral.tv.
California Considers US$5,000 BitLicense-style Scheme for “virtual currency”
The Californian state assembly is considering legislation that would require all “virtual currency” businesses to acquire a US$5,000 license to operate legally.
A 0.2% Credit Card Fee in the EU Will Not Undercut Bitcoin (Op-Ed)
The European Union (EU) Parliament, on the advice of Pablo Zalba, will vote on Tuesday, March 17, on whether credit card transaction fees should be arbitrarily capped at 0.2 %. The legislation, which
Victorian Government “makes the most of” 24,500 BTC Confiscated From Online Drug Dealer
Local Government authorities in Victoria, Australia announced today they are looking to sell US$7.1m worth of bitcoins on the open market in the coming months.
MAR 16 DIGEST – California contemplates crypto license, Australia auctioning US$7.1 million in bitcoin
California is discussing a license for businesses in the cryptocurrency sector, leading to fears of a New York-style BitLicense proposal. Victoria, Australia to auction off US$7.1 million in bitcoin a
'Satoshi Was Not a Cryptographer,' Says Gavin Andresen
As a lead developer that has worked on Bitcoin for many years, Gavin Andresen has seen his share of mishaps and debates. In the early days of 2011, one faulty transaction created some billion bitcoins
Sunday, March 15, 2015
‘Assets Remove Barriers that Prevent People from Experimenting,’ says CoinDaddy Dev
CoinDaddy is making Bitcoin 2.0 technology user friendly. CoinTelegraph interviews developer Jeremy Johnson about how the project started and where it is going.
Weekend Roundup: Ending Counterfeiting with the Blockchain, Bitcoin in Cuba and More
Weekend Roundup from CoinTelegraph
Storing Your Life on the Blockchain with iNation
Storing a document on the blockchain is one of those crypto promises that people have been waiting for a while. The Blockchain Factory is set to actually bring it to the user with iNation.
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