In the first enforcement case against a Bitcoin operator after recognizing the cryptocurrency as a commodity, Bitcoin operator Coinflip has reached a settlement with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). With the new ruling that virtual currencies are to be recognized as commodities that are under the rules and regulations of existing laws, the U.S. derivatives regulators brought their first case against a Bitcoin trading platform, Reuters reports. The Federal agency said that a settlement had been reached with San Francisco-based trading platform Coinflip and its CEO Francisco Riordan. The charges were originally brought forward against the company and its CEO for conducting activity related to commodity options transactions without complying…
Credit those who are trying to bring the transparency and security of the block chain to the chaotic financial markets. They recognize the need for a reliable mechanism to prevent the type of disaster visited upon the credit default swaps (CDS) market this past weekend. A cadre of financial institutions agreed in principle to a $1.87 billion settlement for allegedly conspiring to muzzle competition in the CDS market. The complete story behind this record settlement could take years to unravel. U.S. and European regulators are still investigating. In the meantime, the growing chorus of block chain advocates in the financial community has further reason to question the status quo while the lawyers rake it in. CDSs, a market pegged at $16 trillion in late 2014,…
LedgerX, a New York-based trading platform for bitcoin options, has moved closer to becoming the first regulated exchange and clearinghouse to list and clear bitcoin options for the institutional market. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has approved LedgerX’s application for a temporary registration as a swap execution facility. LedgerX plans to list and clear fully-collateralized, settled options on bitcoin. The next step for the commission is to review the application for full registration. The CFTC approved temporary registration following a comment period from Dec. 15, 2014 to Jan. 30, 2015. The comments are available on the CFTC website. Comments from bitcoin industry players supported approval of the application. Some comments raised…
A Singapore-based startup, SearchTrade, has introduced a system to allow all parties in the Internet search engine process – the searcher, the owner of the key word being searched, the builder of the app using the search engine, and the advertisers – to profit from the process using bitcoin. Using bitcoin, the system redistributes the revenue among the stakeholders in the process, rather than allowing all the profit to flow to the big search engines like Google and Bing. “Search is the single most important activity on the Internet,” said Vishal Gupta, co-founder and CEO of SearchTrade. Everyone does it, every day. Search drives far more traffic than any social network or viral news site, and it makes a ton of money. “We’re asking people to imagine…
The block chain offers the most significant records and identity authentication technology available in more than 5,000 years, and government should take the lead in adopting it. That’s the message that Brian Forde, director of the MIT Media Lab’s Digital Currency Initiative, delivered in a recent presentation to a group of government information managers. The Huffington Post posted the presentation, in which Forde explained one of the missions of the recently-formed MIT Media Lab’s Digital Currency Initiative. Brian Forde Forde, whose presentation was titled, “Blockchain As The Next Platform,” said the block chain is the first real tool to replace “rubber stamp authentication protocol,” meaning paper records. He wants to work with governments and…
CCN reached out to the Bitcoin Community via various sources, including Reddit, BitcoinTalk, and our own contacts, in order to gauge the sentiment of the Bitcoin Community in survey form. Included are our answers. Of the more than 130 people who took our survey, 56.3% believed that Bitcoin should use Bitcoin-XT. 81.6% believe the block size limit should be increased, assuming nobody believes it should be decreased. As far as the amount of influence Bitcoin developers have over the Bitcoin software, many showed signs of uneasiness. More than 50% claim the debate and divisiveness over Bitcoin-XT has damaged their trust in Bitcoin and/or the Bitcoin Community. Some of the most notable comments are as follows: “Bitcoin needs bigger blocks. It’s an…