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An Italian court has ruled that Francesco Firano, founder of defunct cryptocurrency exchange Bitgrail, was at fault for the disappearance of $170 million worth of the nano digital currency on his exchange last year. Firano, who called himself "The Bomber," is now "required to return as much of the assets to his customers as possible." Court Seizes Firano's Personal Assets to Repay Victims In its ruling, the Italian Bankruptcy Court, which enlisted the services of a court-appointed technical expert, concluded that both Bitgrail and Firano personally be declared bankrupt and forfeit their assets. According to documents released by the Bitgrail victims advocacy group, the court's decision, delivered Jan. 21, authorizes the seizure of Firano's personal assets. So far, more than $1 million worth of assets have been seized, including a luxury vehicle, the group said. Digital assets worth several million dollars have also been confiscated from Bitgrail accounts

Cryptocurrency's resistance to government control is countered by the fact that a number of governments, including Chile, Romania, Spain and South Africa, are looking to cash in by taxing crypto assets. These countries are crafting laws that bind citizens to annually disclose cryptocurrency investments that, in some cases, are held at home and abroad, and to pay anything from 10-35 percent income tax on crypto gains. Cryptocurrency Taxation: Coming-of-Age Responsibility or Loss of Freedom? Crypto taxation is happening despite governments' largely lukewarm treatment of virtual currency as a bona fide financial instrument that is useful for everyday transactions. Some governments have previously issued skeptical statements in a bid to dissuade cryptocurrency usage on their turf, though others have committed to research, proactive policies and legislation to make digital coins an integral part of their economic strategy. Governmental efforts to stake a claim in cryptocurrency weal

Switzerland's Falcon Private Bank has introduced a cryptocurrency wallet as well as support for direct transfers of BTC, BCH, ETH and LTC for private and institutional investors. The bank said investors can now directly transfer cryptocurrencies to and from its own "segregated Falcon wallets." They can also convert their digital coins into cash. Fully Bankable Blockchain Assets' In a press release published on Jan. 21, Falcon claimed that its latest offering "makes blockchain assets fully bankable." The Zurich-based bank also claimed to provide secure storage thanks to its "proprietary custody solution." "Clients can place trading orders conveniently through e-banking or a dedicated relationship manager," said Falcon. "Digital assets are included in portfolio statements as well as in tax reporting documents." The bank stated it had developed a process that ensures full compliance with Switzerland's anti-money laundering and

A South Korean crypto exchange mistakenly sent its customers BTC and other cryptocurrencies due to an error during an airdrop. Some users immediately sold the coins, causing the prices of a number of cryptocurrencies on the exchange to sharply fall. The exchange said, however, that the majority of customers have agreed to return the assets. South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinzest reportedly sent its customers BTC and other cryptocurrencies while trying to airdrop WGT tokens. The exchange posted a notice on its website that at approximately 18:30 p.m. Korean time on Jan. 18: The WGT token airdrop process caused a computer error that incorrectly reflected the deposit details of some customers' assets … we took measures to immediately check the server to prevent any additional damage as a result of the sales and purchases of some misappropriated assets by some customers. The exchange's computer program "allocated a particular cryptocurrency to the event," Sedaily e

Malaysia's finance minister has announced that the order to regulate cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings as securities has come into force. Crypto service providers and exchanges are required to obtain authorization from the country's Securities Commission, which will work with the central bank to ensure compliance. Regulating as Securities Malaysian Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said on Monday that his country "will regulate initial coin offerings (ICOs) and the trade of cryptocurrencies," Reuters reported, adding: An order to recognize digital currencies and digital tokens as securities will come into force on Jan. 15, under the regulation of the Securities Commission Malaysia [SC]. The order is known as "the Capital Markets and Services (Prescription of Securities) (Digital Currency and Digital Token) Order 2019." Cryptocurrencies, ICOs and their related activities must comply with relevant securities laws and be approved by the commission, the mi

In today's edition of The Daily, we cover a number of stories that show how the cryptocurrency ecosystem is evolving to become more inviting to institutional investors. Bittrex exchange opens an OTC trading desk, Bakkt "acquihires" a futures compliance team, and Swiss investment bank Vontobel launches a custody solution. U.S.-based digital asset exchange Bittrex has announced that it has opened an over-the-counter (OTC) desk, which includes trading on nearly all 200 tokens available on the platform. It will offer approved customers with reduced price risk, rapid trade execution and guaranteed pricing for large trades, which are typically $250,000 or greater. The new OTC desk will also accept both cryptocurrency and USD wire transfers for deposits. "We're excited to offer this new, game-changing trading option for our customers," said Bittrex CEO Bill Shihara. "With one of the most extensive selections of digital assets of any OTC desk available, this of

We live in the era of tectonic shifts in society and technology. The shape of the future world is still quite vague, and changing all the time. Futuristic concepts that have been proposed not so long ago stop making sense or need to be adjusted. One thing is obvious — development of the Internet will be crucial for the development of the world we live in, and what happens to the Internet will essentially happen to the world. The concept of Web3.0 that emerged almost twenty years ago acquires a more tangible shape only now. Because of the emergence of the blockchain technology we are starting seeing some products that can be called Web3 prototypes. It's still too early to lay out the standards for the future Web, we might need some more products to actually understand what those standards should be. On the other hand, we could define Web3 products essentials, since now we have all the major ingredients for building applications that are essentially different from the applications we

The Venezuelan government has published a decree requiring taxpayers with crypto operations in the country to pay their taxes in cryptocurrencies. Similarly, operators of foreign currencies must pay their taxes in those currencies. The decree states that the change is necessary for the "strengthening of the current fiscal regime." Paying Taxes in Cryptocurrencies The Venezuelan government published the official gazette No. 6,420 dated Dec. 28 on Monday, local media reported. It contains Decree No. 3,719 which outlines new tax payment rules for cryptocurrency operators. Dinero publication explained: The government of President Nicolás Maduro published a decree that will require taxpayers who carry out operations in foreign currencies or cryptocurrencies to pay their taxes in that same currency and not in bolivars. The decree states that "the Venezuelan people are currently facing a fierce war waged by internal and external factors that pursue the deterioration of the econ

Last year, reports emerged that George Soros and the Rockefeller family were beginning to take positions in the emergent crypto asset class, according to Bloomberg. The family's $26 billion Soros Fund Management was supposedly considering trading digital assets. The Rockefeller family's VC arm, Venrock, decided to take a different approach by partnering with Coinfund to assist entrepreneurs in launching blockchain businesses.  Mike Novogratz, the chief executive officer of Galaxy Investment Partners, said he sees Q1 and Q2 2019 as a period when more institutions will start to come into crypto. He also expects the crypto markets to turn bullish again in 2019.  Previously, investors were hesitant to enter the crypto markets due to high volatility and lack of regulation, but this is changing, with large players starting to take positions. How Institutional Investors Are Changing the Cryptocurrency Market Stefan Neagu, co-founder of digital identity management system Persona, said:

Interest towards cryptocurrencies in Russia remained relatively stable throughout 2018, despite the significant drop in their prices. Ruble-denominated trade on Localbitcoins, for example, has shown a generally positive trend since last spring. In the past year, Russians also saw a growing number of other options to purchase digital coins. Russians Not Losing Interest in Cryptocurrencies The last 12 months will be remembered in the crypto space as a period of bearish sentiment and shrinking capitalization. In 2018, leading coins such as BTC saw an 80 percent drop in their valuation compared to the all-time highs reached in the last weeks of 2017. However, according to Olga Prokhorova from the International Financial Center investment consultancy, the falling prices have not significantly decreased interest in cryptocurrencies, and Russia is no exception. In an interview with the Federal Press news outlet, Prokhorova quoted data from a recently published study by the University of Cambr