Thursday, May 28, 2015
NY Attorney Wants to Jail Ulbricht for Life, Bitfury develops a Mining Light Bulb
True Democracy: World’s First ‘Political App’ Blockchain Party Launches in Australia
Why Nick Szabo Likes Abra and Streamium
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Cato Institute's Mark Calabria: ‘Expect Another Crisis Within the Next Decade’
How Sociability is Driving the Media Franchise in 2015
Ex-Investment Bank CCO Joins Bitcoin Exchange Kraken To Prepare For US Expansion
Bitcoin exchange Kraken has announced that financial compliance veteran Howard Bernstein has joined the company as chief compliance officer as the trading platform looks to expand to the United States.
Bernstein, who has more than 20 years of experience in American financial regulations, constructed the entire anti-money laundering program of the publicly traded investment bank Merriman Capital, Inc. He also helped Merriman comply with SEC and FINRA requirements. Much like the current state of Bitcoin regulations, the compliance requirements for the SEC and FINRA were new and very unclear at the time.
According to a Kraken blog post, Bernstein will help manage the company’s day-to-day compliance program and begin to engage regulatory officials and lawmakers. But the new CCO also marks a change of heart for the exchange about the U.S. market, a country Kraken doesn’t operate in, but which contributes greatly to bitcoin’s trading volume.
The San Francisco-based exchange previously swore off the U.S. market, having said that the country’s regulations were too nascent to know what they needed to comply with. Kraken instead focused its efforts on Europe and Japan, which it found to have simpler financial regulations.
Bernstein will now led the exchange’s efforts to get a U.S. banking partner and necessary financial licenses so the trading platform can operate in the country.
“We are working toward being able to operate legally in the United States,” Kraken CEO and founder Jesse Powell told Bitcoin Magazine. “Unlike most other services, we’ve chosen to stay out of the U.S. until we have the necessary licenses, which has put us at a substantial competitive disadvantage. We’re looking forward to entering our home market.”
He added that the new CCO is also re-evaluating Kraken’s existing compliance programs in Japan and Europe.
“We plan to better localize our compliance efforts and adjust to a more customized risk-based model, as opposed to the generalized policy we have now, which might in some cases be too strict, and in other cases not strict enough,” Powell said.
Image via Kraken.
3 Bitcoin Podcasts Featuring Industry Leaders
With the news of SoundCloud’s integration with Changetip, it only makes sense that there is a surge in appeal toward Bitcoin news and analysis podcasts.
While constantly refreshing the most popular Bitcoin news sites is addictive to some, it does not always capture the true passion behind digital currency enthusiasts because they lack one thing podcasts have: a passionate voice. Whether you’re traveling on a WiFi-free flight, or waiting for the next price change, the Bitcoin podcasts below are sure to satiate your appetite.
Decentralize.fm
Bitcoin Magazine had the chance to speak to Decentralize.fm’s Tony Sakish, who spoke about how they
“did not want to be a podcast exclusively about Bitcoin, as there are plenty of those.” This led to Decentralize taking a different route and really covering other things that are related, but that do not exclusively involve Bitcoin. Topics range from decentralization of education, to virtual worlds and politics related to everything crypto.
Run by Eric Martindale (Bitpay), James Walpole (Bitpay), Tony Sakish (Augur) and Chaz Ferguson, Decentralize.fm started eight months ago with their first guest, country singer Shooter Jennings, who talked about cryptocurrency as well as decentralization in music.
Their latest episode is with Ryan X. Charles, former astrophysicist, veteran of BitPay and Reddit, and current software engineer at BitGo. Ryan comments on BitGo’s Innovators Patent Agreement which has recently created a stir.
Their unbiased approach toward Bitcoin adds a new flavor to podcasting about the digital currency, an example being their interview with Steve Albini, who’s produced records for Nirvana, The Pixies, PJ Harvey, Cheap Trick and many others. Albini’s take on Bitcoin might not be positive, but is a refreshing one nonetheless.
Trace Mayer’s Bitcoin Knowledge Podcast
Considered a Bitcoin legend by many, Trace Mayer is most renowned for being one of digital currency’s earliest adopters, while the market cap was still less than $2 million, Mayer had already helped fund Armory, Bitpay & Kraken.
His podcasts usually span 15 to 30 minutes and are updated as often as once every three days. One of his most popular podcasts is his interview with Erik Voorhees, author of Money & State, and current CEO of Shapeshift.io.
Other notable mentions are his interviews with Kraken CEO Jesse Powell, and more recently with Roger Ver, who funded big names such as Blockchain.info & Coinlab.com.
Let’s Talk Bitcoin
Boasting more than 9,000 community members, Let’s Talk Bitcoin (LTB) prides itself on being more than just a podcast. Episodes are uploaded almost every day, and have been consistently covering all aspects of cryptographically secured money since April 2013. The website has numerous hosts and sub-shows, and content is largely volunteer-based. Dubbed as an “an experimental community platform,” the LTB network is “home to many ACTs (Autonomous Content Teams) who create what they want and when they want, according to their own rules.”
The network’s podcasts ideas range from breaking news to interviews and even satire. Popular episodes include the interview with founder of Bitinstant Charlie Shrem and Andreas M. Antonopolous’s episode about his book Mastering Bitcoin.
Citi Persuaded that Digital Money is Inevitable, Encourages U.K. Government to Create its Own
In March, after receiving more than 120 replies to a call for information on digital currencies, the U.K. government released a Treasury document titled “Digital Currencies: Response to the Call for Information,” which summarizes the submissions received and outlines the government’s views and proposed next steps. In particular, the government is launching a £10 million (U.S. $14.6 million) research initiative on digital currencies.
One of the replies to the U.K. government call for information came from the global bank Citi. The bank is persuaded that digital money adoption is inevitable, and the U.K. government should consider issuing its own digital money, Finextra reports. The full text of the Citi document was obtained by CoinDesk via a Freedom of Information request.
Headquartered in Manhattan, Citi is an American multinational banking and financial services corporation. As of January 2015, it is the third-largest bank holding company in the United States by assets and has one of the world’s largest financial services networks.
“Due to the potential benefits, we believe the adoption of Digital Money is inevitable,” notes the Citi document. “While we believe that the use of Digital Money is certain, the future of specific cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin is less clear.”
The wording shows that Citi agrees with the growing persuasion, in the financial and regulatory sectors, that the promising blockchain technology will eventually have to be adapted to non-Bitcoin blockchains with different features, more appealing to the financial mainstream.
Recently the Bank of England itself called for further research to devise a system that could use distributed ledger technology without compromising a central bank’s ability to control its currency. Similar ideas were discussed at a research workshop organized by the European Commission.
“The greatest benefits of digital currencies can be realized through the government issuing a digital form of legal tender,” notes the Citi document. “This currency would be less expensive, more efficient, and provide greater transparency than current physical legal tender or electronic methods.”
Citi recommends that the U.K. government work together with regulators in other nations to establish a common platform, if possible, within the framework of existing regulations and laws.
“The decision by a government to issue its own digital money would resolve the majority of national AML, KYC and sanctions concerns,” adds the Citi document. “Clearly this creates possible privacy concerns on the side of the citizen, but it could be offset by the additional value digital money provides.”
The idea of a government-sponsored digital currency has been around for quite some time. In February, David Andolfatto, vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, wrote a blog post about “Fedcoin: On the Desirability of a Government Cryptocurrency.” Similarly, Greece’s Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis envisaged some kind of “Eurocoin” for Europe, especially for financially troubled economies such as Greece’s.
One thing is certain: Governments and established financial institutions risk obsolescence if they don’t act soon.
“We believe that Governments and the Financial Industry incumbents are not currently leveraging the benefits of emerging technologies and risk similar challenges to that of the Post Office during the shift to digital forms of communication,” warns Citi.
Photo Uris / CC BY-SA 3.0
One Coin, Much Scam: OneCoin Exposed as Global MLM Ponzi Scheme
13 FinTech Unicorns: The Industry Disrupters That Are Worth Billions
MAY 27 DIGEST: Block Chain Summit Kicks Off on Richard Branson's Private Island, Xapo Announces Advisory Board
SimbaPay CEO, Nyasinga Onyancha: ‘It Makes Sense to Have a Presence in Nigeria’
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)