Can Bitcoin be Regulated? US Courts Are About to Decide (LiveMint.com)
Manhattan: The US is trying to regulate cybercurrency offerings. It’s still unclear whether it has the authority to do so. Federal judges in Brooklyn, New York, are about to rule on the question. In doing so, they could determine whether bitcoin and other stateless currencies are securities that can be regulated like stocks or bonds. Courts across the country are likely to consult these rulings when considering other cybercurrency cases.
Bitcoin price news: Why is Bitcoin Going Down Today? BTC Crashes $12.5 Billion (Express.co.uk)
Bitcoin, the world’s biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, is currently trading at less than $11,300, according to CoinMarketCap – down from a high of more than $12,000 yesterday (January 28). Its coin market capitalisation is now hovering around the $190billion mark, which is far below its December peak of nearly $335billion. Bitcoin’s growth looked unstoppable last month, when it surged from less than $3,000 to nearly $20,000 in just a few months. But the entire crypto market has faltered since the start of the year, with bitcoin’s closest rivals Ripple and Ethereum also struggling.
Bitcoin Exchange BTCC Just Got Acquired (CoinDesk)
Bitcoin startup BTCC has been acquired by a Hong Kong-based blockchain investment fund. While details remain scarce on the deal, BTCC said in a press release that the move will help its efforts to expand internationally following its recent closure in mainland China. Bobby Lee, BTCC’s co-founder, said: “Today’s acquisition is an incredible milestone for BTCC. … I’m very excited about the resources this gives BTCC to move faster and aggressively grow our businesses in 2018 and beyond.”
Ethereum Price Probably Won’t Dip for This Mini-scam ($ETH $BTC) (Slashgear.com)
A scam posing as an ICO startup company called Prodeum cut and run this weekend with a whole bunch of investor coins. They began their venture with what seemed to be good intentions. They wanted to put vegetables on the blockchain. Of course, when one realizes that doing this makes no sense whatsoever, one also starts to look at the finer details in the company’s listing online – which is now deleted entirely.
ICO Regulation Proposed By Russian Finance Ministry (BlockTribune)
The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation (Minfin) has introduced a draft federal law on the regulation of digital assets and initial coin offerings (ICO). The Digital Assets Regulation Bill, published by Minfin on January 25, defines cryptocurrency as a digital asset which can be traded but can’t be used as means of payment, with the ruble being the only legal tender in Russia. The bill states that individual traders will be able to buy and sell digital currencies through licensed cryptocurrency exchanges registered in Russia. Crypto exchanges must conform with existing legislation including strict KYC (know your customer) policies. Traders will be able to exchange their crypto assets for other assets using special accounts run by an entity.
