Bitcoin – Page 4 – Impact Lab

Bitcoin, government, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

Bitcoin And Cryptocurrencies are a hedge for bad government

September 5, 2019

World leaders and delegates depart a family photo session at the Group of 20 (G-20) summit in Osaka, Japan, on Friday, June 28, 2019.

There’s been a lot of news recently, especially with the advent of a news cycle focused on a potential recession, on the role of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies from a short-term investment perspective. Some have placed bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in the category of hedges, a form of digital gold or silver that can be used to store value through inflation and the debasement of fiat currency.

Yet that misses the forest for the trees. Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies at scale are not just a hedge for inflation and an ever-expanding monetary supply — they are a fundamental hedge against bad governance and bad governments. In this respect, it may be easier to evaluate them along a longer-term horizon than just a short-term store of value.

Continue reading… “Bitcoin And Cryptocurrencies are a hedge for bad government”

Bitcoin, government, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

IRS says it’s sending warning letter to US cryptocurrency owners

August 11, 2019

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced Friday that it has begun sending letters to taxpayers who own cryptocurrency, advising them to pay any back taxes they may owe or to file amended tax returns regarding their holdings.

In a news bulletin, the agency said that it began mailing what it called “educational letters” last week. According to the statement, there are three variations of the letter that were sent.

The IRS further said that it will have sent such letters to “more than 10,000 taxpayers” by the end of this month,” adding that “the names of these taxpayers were obtained through various ongoing IRS compliance efforts.”

Continue reading… “IRS says it’s sending warning letter to US cryptocurrency owners”

Bitcoin, Blockchain, government, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

How Crypto could bring tax evasion to the masses

August 2, 2019

Loopholes in lending laws are allowing cryptocurrency users to escape taxes — and the government can’t keep up

WWealthy families and merchants first conjured up the idea of offshore banking in 19th century Europe, seeking a place to store funds away from tax-hungry governments in the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars. Since then, it’s been a race to the bottom. Over the course of the last two centuries, deregulation and lenient financial laws have allowed the rich to tread the fine line between legal tax avoidance and illegal tax evasion.

But blockchain, which first emerged as a concept in 2008, is now offering ordinary people the same possibilities. Using cryptocurrency, anyone with a little technical know-how can open what is effectively the equivalent of an offshore bank account — albeit offshore in cyberspace.

Continue reading… “How Crypto could bring tax evasion to the masses”

Bitcoin, Blockchain, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

New ECB boss Christine Lagarde issued a serious bitcoin warning

July 20, 2019

Bitcoin and other crypto-assets have long divided traditional economists and bankers with some warning over their instability and others praising their ingenuity.

The bitcoin price rebound so far this year has caused some to change sides, though many continue to warn bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will be a mere flash in the pan.

Earlier this year, Christine Lagarde, who has just been nominated to replace Mario Draghi as president of the European Central Bank (ECB), warned that cryptocurrencies are “shaking the system”—something that could signal a change in the ECB’s approach to bitcoin and crypto and potentially spur adoption.

Continue reading… “New ECB boss Christine Lagarde issued a serious bitcoin warning”

Bitcoin, facebook, Legal Issues, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

Consumer groups call for a moratorium on Libra until ‘profound questions’ are answered

July 16, 2019

Some 33 consumer and public-policy groups sent a letter Tuesday to five Congressional committees and federal regulators asking for a moratorium on the Facebook Inc.-backed Libra cryptocurrency.

“We call on Congress and regulators to impose a moratorium on Facebook’s Libra and related plans until the profound questions raised by the proposal are addressed,” says the letter. “We also urge Facebook to put its implementation of its plans for the new cryptocurrency, Libra, on hold until the Congress and regulators have an opportunity to assess and react to a far more detailed presentation than has yet been made public.”

Among the signatories are the Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Reports, the Economic Policy Institute, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Public Citizen, U.S. PIRG, and the Woodstock Institute.

Continue reading… “Consumer groups call for a moratorium on Libra until ‘profound questions’ are answered”

Bitcoin, Blockchain, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

3 powerful ways crypto is completely going to transform our lives

July 10, 2019

You won’t believe it till you transact it

Its time to cut the crap. Humanity is on its way to decentralization. The choice is yours to become antiquity in the museum of fiat corruption, or a fast crypto Lamborghini fueled by blockchain on its way to peer to peer financial empowerment.

Lets no longer deny the future of money. It will be digital, it will be apps, it will be borderless and neutral. And it will be humanities biggest escape from the capitalist abyss of pyramidal driven greed destruction. Nakamoto will be proven to be the 21 century Houdini showing the escape route from the financial chains of banks and middlemen slavery. He introduced the technological way that will eventually free most of humanity from the parasitical power of cartels. And if you don’t grasp it yet fully, its OK.

Buckle up for these 3 biggest transformational changes crypto, bitcoin and cryptocurrencies will bring us on the long run.

Continue reading… “3 powerful ways crypto is completely going to transform our lives”

Bitcoin, Parenting, Science & Technology News, Travel

This father of three put everything into bitcoin. Here’s what happened next.

July 3, 2019

The Bitcoin Family are traveling the world, unencumbered by centralized currency.

When I jumped on a WhatsApp call with 41-year old Didi Taihuttu, he was a few days away from joining his family on CoinBank’s annual Mediterranean “Blockchain Cruise” — a combination vacation getaway and crypto symposium at which all the movers and shakers in the decentralized finance arena get together to discuss a hypothetical future where government-printed money is rendered obsolete, dropping by Mallorca and Marseille along the way.

According to Taihuttu, invitations to blockchain conferences and seminars have piled up ever since he liquidated almost everything he owned (yes, including his house and his cars) and invested his remaining capital in bitcoin. It’s a financial pivot that’s both irrational and dangerous to an outsider, but within the crypto nation, it can make you a legend.

Continue reading… “This father of three put everything into bitcoin. Here’s what happened next.”

Big Problems, Bitcoin, government, Hackers, Science & Technology News

Florida city gives in to $600,000 bitcoin ransomware demand

July 3, 2019

But there’s no guarantee hackers will actually restore Riviera Beach’s systems.

Riviera Beach, a city in Florida, is set to pay hackers $600,000 in bitcoin with the hope of having its systems restored. Hackers took over the systems several weeks ago, when a police department employee opened a malicious email that allowed them to inject the city’s network with malware. Now the council has voted to pay the ransom in the hopes of getting Riviera Beach’s encrypted records back — even though there’s no actual guarantee the hackers will restore them.

Continue reading… “Florida city gives in to $600,000 bitcoin ransomware demand”

Banking, Bitcoin, Business, facebook, Science & Technology News

Mark Zuckerberg is about to become the head of a Swiss Bank. 3 reasons it should make you think

July 1, 2019

Mark Zuckerberg is about to become the head of a very big bank based in Switzerland. Libra is Facebooks’ new cryptocurrency. Imagine sitting in a room thinking about what else you can sell to your 2.4bn people (including some bots) backed by a $1bn in guarantees from companies as wide as Paypal, Mastercard and Uber. This has the opportunity to severely disrupt existing financial transactions markets but also the deeper psychology of trust of our collective financial systems, collective expectations for what currency can and should do and also our personal relationships. For example, please pay me to socially post positive things about you. Just drop me some Libra.

Continue reading… “Mark Zuckerberg is about to become the head of a Swiss Bank. 3 reasons it should make you think”

Analysis, Bitcoin, Blockchain, Science & Technology News

Why Blockchain is Hard

June 24, 2019

The hype around blockchain is massive. To hear the blockchain hype train tell it, blockchain will now:

Solve income inequality
Make all data secure forever
Make everything much more efficient and trustless
Save dying babies

What the heck is a blockchain, anyway? And can it really do all these things? Can blockchain bring something amazing to industries as diverse as health care, finance, supply chain management and music rights?

Continue reading… “Why Blockchain is Hard”

Bitcoin, China, Green Friendly, Science & Technology News

Bitcoin mining is shockingly mostly powered by green energy

June 19, 2019

A game-changing CoinShares report reveals that three-quarters of bitcoin mining is done using renewable energy including hydroelectric power.

By CCN: Contrary to popular opinion, it appears that Bitcoin mining might not be as bad for the environment as people think. In a highly detailed report, CoinShares research reveals that 74% of mining activity runs on renewable energy.

“We show that Bitcoin mining is mainly located in global regions where there are ample supplies of renewable electricity available. And…we calculate a conservative estimate of the renewables penetration in the energy mix powering the Bitcoin mining network at 74.1%, making Bitcoin mining more renewables-driven than almost every other large-scale industry in the world.”

Continue reading… “Bitcoin mining is shockingly mostly powered by green energy”

Bitcoin, Blockchain, Crypto-Technology, government, Science & Technology News

Bitcoin regulation : South Korea is making progress

June 11, 2019

On June 8th, the South Korean Advisory Committee met to develop a legal framework for national crypto exchanges. Following the Coinrail Market’s recent hack, the South Korean government is enforcing stricter investor protection guidelines: Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML).

Continue reading… “Bitcoin regulation : South Korea is making progress”