BitcoinInsider

It has been widely reported this week that the U.S. government has blacklisted two BTC addresses linked to cyber crime. These particular addresses were singled out because their owners are believed to be Iranians, whose country is currently facing heavy economic sanctions from the U.S. While the BTC addresses are clearly connected to ransomware, mainstream media has gotten one crucial element of the story wrong: You can't blacklist a bitcoin address. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is the financial intelligence wing of the U.S. Treasury Department. It enforces economic sanctions against foreign entities the American government has taken exception to. Right now, it has Iran in its sights. By OFAC's own admission, however, trying to blacklist bitcoin addresses is a first. "While OFAC routinely provides identifiers for designated persons, today's action marks the first time OFAC is publicly attributing digital currency addresses to designated individuals,...

Fortress Blockchain's net loss worsened to $1.16 million (1.55 million Canadian dollars) in the third quarter, from $202,000 in the preceding three-month period, as price pressure continues to mount in the global bitcoin mining industry. The Canadian company said depreciation of $291,600 and listing expenses of $293,700 wiped away mining earnings. Revenue Falls as Bitcoin Plummets Fortress Blockchain, which listed shares on the TSX Venture Exchange in August, sold 179.8 BTC for $1.13 million in the three months to September, at an average price of $6,605 per coin. About 83 BCH was sold for $35,300. The Vancouver-based company extracted much less bitcoin and bitcoin cash during the third quarter, however, as global cryptocurrency prices plummeted. It mined 64.5 BTC and 52 BCH at significantly lower prices compared to the previous quarter. Revenue from its mining operations declined 37 percent to $463,900, from $741,000 in the previous quarter, according to an earnings release publis...

Auditors KPMG have published a report stressing the need for institutional investors to join the cryptocurrency industry. The report outlines the importance of cryptoassets as an investment alternative and how institutional investors can take part in the process. Digital Assets Have Potential, Institutionalization Needed to Scale' In the report, released Nov. 18, the Netherlands-based firm said a new world of finance is emerging in which transacting in digital assets may become standard operation. "Cryptoassets have potential," KPMG wrote, in the report titled 'Institutionalization of Cryptoassets." "But for them to realize this potential, institutionalization is needed. Institutionalization is the at-scale participation in the crypto market of banks, broker dealers, exchanges, payment providers, fintechs, and other entities in the global financial services ecosystem," it said. The study comes at a time the use of digital currencies is gaining worldwide...

Kind regards, The Indian government has reportedly filed an affidavit with the country's supreme court detailing its progress on cryptocurrency regulations. "Serious efforts are going on" to prepare the draft crypto bill and report, the government explained. The two are expected to be discussed by the inter-ministerial committee by next month. Government's Counter-Affidavit The Indian supreme court has been trying to hear the petitions against the crypto banking ban by the central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). On Oct. 25, the court directed the government to file a counter-affidavit within two weeks, detailing its crypto regulatory progress. The court specifically asked for a report from the committee set up by the finance ministry to recommend crypto regulations. This committee is headed by Subhash Chandra Garg, the country's Economic Affairs Secretary. On Tuesday, Quartz reported that the government has filed the counter-affidavit with the supreme court...

 In recent regulatory news, we report on an authorized mining company in China that has had its operations temporarily halted for tax inspection and implementation of real-name registration processes. We also look at the Michigan Secretary of State's ban on crypto-based political donations, as well as the recent certification of X8's stablecoin for Shariah compliance. In addition, we focus on the operator of a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme who has been punished for misappropriating $601,000 in BTC and LTC from his employer. Chinese Mining Farms Suspended According to a statement published by an unidentified cryptocurrency mining company, Chinese state agencies have ordered the suspension of its mining farms in southwestern Guizhou Province and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region for tax inspections and to implement real-name registration processes. "According to the needs of the public security department's network information security work, in the future, our com...

Bitcoin Group SE has bought 100 percent shares of investment bank Tremmel for an undisclosed amount. This is the German digital currency exchange operator's second acquisition in 2018. Bitcoin Group, which holds current assets of $40 million, said Tremmel allows it to issue its own cryptocurrency-related products, conduct proprietary trading and operate bitcoin ATMs. Acquisition to Expand Bitcoin Group Services Portfolio Bitcoin Group SE Buys Investment Bank Tremmel for Undisclosed Figure The Frankfurt Stock Exchange-listed company operates Bitcoin.de, Germany's only regulated digital currency exchange, trading BTC, BCH and ETH. It hopes to use Tremmel's banking license to expand the range of its service portfolio. For example, Bitcoin Group said it is now possible for the trading platform to maintain an order book and even quote prices, while simultaneously ensuring more liquid trading. "We are very pleased that in Tremmel Wertpapierhandelsbank Gmbh…we have been able ...

After the success of the first Bitcoin BCH stress test on the first of September, the group behind that test have decided to ramp up their efforts to showcase the robustness and reliability of the of the BCH Network. The group plans a more extensive, more professional stress test on November 17, two days after the scheduled protocol upgrade. Rather than I tell you about the upcoming stress test, Brenden Lee of https://stresstestbitcoin.cash has put some words on the page to give some insight into their group, their processes and what everyone can expect come November 17. The Professional Stress Test "Our team came together to bring the first stress test to life, and while the test itself was something of a success, the 2.2 million transactions were a far cry from the target we had set for ourselves of 5 million transactions. The reasons were wide-ranging and included a lack of automated systems for re-starting tests that failed, issues with the way some nodes were managing transa...

nChain has released a public notice intended for cryptocurrency exchanges and bitcoin cash wallet operators. The company is offering its recommendation on how these companies should handle the hash war and the potential of a BCH split. You can read their statement below in its entirety: On November 15, 2018, the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) network will undergo a scheduled protocol upgrade. This protocol upgrade has been different to previous upgrades due to differences in opinion as how best to evolve the Bitcoin Cash network to continue to meet the demands of enterprises and consumers who support Bitcoin Cash. We have developed Bitcoin SV, a new full node implementation for Bitcoin Cash, designed to support the original "Satoshi Vision" of Bitcoin. We are asking BCH miners to vote for the Bitcoin SV implementation over competing implementations (such as Bitcoin ABC) using their hash power under Nakamoto consensus rules. As the November 15 date nears, we provide exchange operators and...