Europe: Crypto and Blockchain News Roundup 23-29 November 2018

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Europe

Europe

Welcome to another weekly blockchain news roundup from around the world. Here we present to you all the latest cryptocurrency related news, continent by continent and country by country.

Norway

Government Ends Mining Subsidy: The Scandinavian country has left the local crypto mining industry in shock after its government announced it will be ending all forms of utility subsidies to the energy-hungry farms. The removal of the subsidy means an increase of a whopping 35 times.

Following the ruling, the subsidies will be lifted from January next year, leaving little time for mining companies to prepare themselves to face the full brunt of their energy consumption. Understandably, the news has not gone down well with the local crypto mining industry.

Switzerland

Court Orders Closure of Mining Farm: The Cantonal Court of Zug ordered crypto mining firm Envion AG to shut down after it found the firm’s ICO to be unauthorized.

The dispute between its two partners saw them landing in court, battling out who was right. In the proceedings, the court found the platform in violations of rules and regulations and ordered it to shut down operations and the platform to be liquidated.

United Kingdom

FCA Adds to Suspicious Crypto Businesses List: Local British news outlet, Telegraph reported that UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has nearly doubled its list of suspicious cryptocurrency based businesses, who might be operating without proper approval. FCA was forced to give out the information after The Telegraph used a Freedom of Information request. The number of investigations stands at 50, up from 25 in May this year.

The clampdown on cryptocurrency businesses is a double tactic, with UK’s government pondering over drafting regulations for the industry. Telegraph also reported that an accountant within FCA suggested that the high number of investigations could be a result of the recent falling prices of tokens in the market.

Ireland

Blockchain Revolution Stalled by Insufficient Human Resource: Ireland is one of the leading countries when it comes to promoting blockchain education. However, a survey by PR firm Wachsman indicates that nearly 75% of Irish people are not willing to go into the blockchain industry.

CEO David Wachsman said, “People in Ireland don’t know yet how transformative a technology blockchain is and that it’s such a wide-ranging technology,” suggesting that people believe the risks involved are too great and outweigh the potential the technology has.

Belarus

Government Establishes Cryptocurrency Regulations in the Country: According to High Technology Park documents, a special economic zone in Belarus has established regulations for cryptocurrency operations in the country. The documents are 5 in number, covering topics such as ICOs, crypto exchanges, internal control roles and rules for crypto platform operators.

The set of these documents form “a complete legal regulation of cryptocurrency in Belarus” which is enforced in conjunction with the National Bank, Financial Monitoring Department, international experts, and other bodies.

Malta

Maltese Exchange to Partner with the English Premier League: Malta’s leading Bitcoin exchange OKEx announced it was partnering with England’s Premier League. Through this partnership, the platform aims to raise awareness about cryptocurrencies among football fans and increase OKEx’s profile.

The partnership will allow OKEx to advertise its platform at the biggest games between high profile football teams.

Russia

Significant Increase in the Sale of Second Hand Mining Rigs: As the crypto market tumbled, Russia has seen an increase in the sale of second-hand mining rigs. Youla, an online Russian marketplace, reported a 25% increase in the sale of used rigs during the Bitcoin price double-dip.

A large number of miners in Russia are amateur ones, having smaller mining rig setups connected to mining pools, collectively solving block equations and distributing the profits. With tumbling prices, small miners would have faced issues continuing operations that are energy intensive and are yielding little profits.

Russia, in another news, is partnering up with India for cooperation in different fields including blockchain development. The joint statement read “both sides agreed to explore joint working arrangements and pilot projects in healthcare, proposed setting up of a single-window clearance.”

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Tron (TRX) daily transactions surged 58% in Oct, will Nov be the same?

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The era of Tron (TRX) alike value-adding cryptocurrencies makes it is easy for the borderless settlements of funds and value. However, as more advanced digital assets are created, we see increased use cases of smart-contracts, Dapps, etc., which makes it possible for the platforms to handle the high volume of transactions. In October, Tron successfully [&#8230;]<br />Post source: Tron (TRX) daily transactions surged 58% in Oct, will Nov be the same?<br />More Bitcoin News and Cryptocurrency News on TheBitcoinNews.com

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Enter the Lamborghini Raffle for 0.00057 BTC While Helping Charity

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Enter the Lamborghini Raffle for 0.00057 BTC While Helping Charity

Dunstan Low is giving people the chance to win a Lamborghini for just EUR 2, around BTC 0.00057, by taking part in his raffle. Not only that, the winner will be able to donate 2% of the funds raised to a local charity of their choice.

Yes, the Lamborghini is a nod to every cryptocurrency investor’s infamous dream. ”It’s a lighthearted way to get started,” Low told Bitcoin News, saying it’s important for him to establish trust with cryptocurrency users before he tackles more difficult issues through his raffles, which he certainly intends to.

”There are a lot of house raffles with more difficult stories and unfortunate circumstances that I want to help in the future, but feel that we need to establish trust in the first instance,” he said.

Why offer a crypto payment option?

Participants can enter the raffle using Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ripple among other cryptocurrency options. After following the digital currency revolution for several years, the idea of taking power away from institutions and giving it back to the people very much appealed to Low.

”I’m actively involved in developing a few business models that build on the raffle concept more like a decentralized method of crowdfunding that focuses on the social role and circular economies. At this point, the raffle model shares ideas with these broader and more ethos based works whilst providing a fun and new opportunity for people,” he explained.

Given this framing, a cryptocurrency raffle is Low’s ideal scenario. While there are plans to add fiat payment support, he would prefer to avoid traditional models and existing banking infrastructure as much as he can.

The website enlists payment gateway Coingate to facilitate transactions, which Low says has proven easy compared with standard payment providers.  He noted ”I would highly recommend the option, it’s just so revolutionary and gives you a fuzzy feeling when a payment arrives and it hasn’t touched a bank.”

Participants can also check the website for details on how to enter the raffle for free by post.

Provably fair, how?

Several questions have been raised over how it can be proven to be a completely fair raffle. The draw of Low’s last raffle (detailed below) was conducted by a Google random number generator on a random journalist phone, with the button pressed by a solicitor while around 30 journalists filmed the moment.

”We are currently looking at how to translate this into a provably fair draw using the blockchain, my developer is looking at the requirements and if we can make this happen. If not, we are happy at this point to use a solicitor or Gambling commission approved vendor, but blockchain is much more exciting and independent, so research is underway.”

Crypto charity

Low’s perspective is that cryptocurrency could be a great way to reduce costs and create transparency in the charity sector, generally benefiting any good causes.

But more than that he believes cryptocurrency can provide much more robust and scalable solutions to solve broader problems in terms of social wellbeing, healthcare, housing, income, and innovation. ”I honestly believe that new economies can and will be built on the utility of cryptocurrencies with social ROI and crowdfunding as a core part of the model for democracy and economic growth,” he said.

The winner gets to choose the charity this time around, but Low has plans to bypass charities in future ventures, donating instead directly to communities that help promote redevelopment and growth.
Look out for more raffles from Low in the future, as he hopes to make them a regular occurrence. He told Bitcoin News: ”Hopefully we can start small and build up to holding regular raffles with a broad range of prizes from small items up to private islands, every Bitcoiner needs one with their Lambo! But seriously, we hope to scale up and reduce our overhead and create a new method to help as many good causes as possible and to eventually build outwards into potentially more interesting and nuanced models.”
As he puts it, raffles are a good way to attract people to donate for good causes that may not be on their radar in a way that direct charity donations can not, even if people are just participating because they want the Lambo.

How it all started

In 2017 bankruptcy fears and the refusal for a new mortgage led Low to raffle off his home at GBP 2 a ticket. Maybe not the first option for most, Low devised the plan while faced with around GBP 4000 in monthly expenses with no income, and to top it off a GBP 250 per month mortgage payment increase when he requested a better deal from the bank.

Low and his wife spent at least two years struggling to sell their house, even at one point listing the sale in Bitcoin to attract more buyers. ”I was lucky enough not to be divorced by my understanding wife” he joked.

When his wife found out about the mortgage increase she insisted they hand back keys to the house. While agreeing with her at the time, Low took the next two days to concoct a plan for the raffle in secret, identifying where previous raffles had faced troubles and how they could be avoided. Noting that raffles have often found themselves foul of gambling commission guidelines which are ambiguous enough to easily create delays, legal threats and cast doubt on the operation, Low realized that by offering free entry as an option to participants he would not be subject to the regulations.

”I decided to run with this idea, thinking how great it would be that anyone could afford to enter and therefore anyone had the chance to win the house,” he explained.

After sending a press release to a local news outlet, he was thrilled to receive a response just one hour later telling him they would come to the house to look around. An article was posted on the same day, and GBP 2,000 worth of entry fees for the raffle were collected. ”I was amazed,” he said.

The following day the Daily Mail picked up the story and things really sped up; ”whilst eating our dinner at the local supermarket my phone started to go insane. I logged into analytics and there were thousands of users on the site and money was rolling in at the rate of around GBP 300 a minute. Over the course of that day, we had over GBP 103,000 worth of entries, it was absolutely unexpected.”

Over the next three weeks or so they collected around GBP 375,000 until trouble reappeared.
”Having used PayPal as a payment provider, obviously against their terms of service, the dreaded risk came true: they noticed the raffle and got very cold feet. Six weeks of negotiations later and I managed to persuade PayPal that this was a genuine cause and we were indeed in arrears and would lose our house. They in their goodwill allowed us to run with strict guidelines and restrictions in place, however, by this point, all momentum had been killed.”
 
Taking a step back, Low created postcards reading ”win a house” and unsuccessfully tried handing them out to the disinterested people of Manchester.
 
Luck fell on them, however, in the form of a young reporter striking up a conversation with Low regarding drug use in the city. Sharing with her his postcard, the following story brought in another GBP 400,000: ”fate really helped us that day.”
Fast forward six months and they hit their target, got featured on the BBC One Show, handed the house off to raffle winner Marie Segar, and donated GBP 3 0,000 to St Johns Hospice in Lancaster and GBP 10,000 to NYAS in Birkenhead, both UK based charities.
”So we beat the bank and kickstarted a small raffle revolution, around 50 raffles around the world followed and I have been asked to raffle around 500 million pounds worth of property from portfolios of houses, private islands, castles, and luxury cars,” Low shared.

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SEC Boss Unwavering on the Woes of Crypto Investments

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SEC Boss Unwavering On The Woes of Crypto Investments

In an interview with columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin of the Times Talk on 29 November, the Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Jay Clayton has expressed an unyielding stance towards the perceptions of the cryptocurrency markets. Clayton emphasized the lack of safeguards in this emerging market structure – hence his skepticism, however, he was for a balance that involved protecting the interests of investors.

The interview lasted for about an hour, and few minutes into the interview, when Andrew asked Sorkin where he has landed with the whole regulation process, Clayton responded saying:

“There are two rule sets for the securities market, one for the offering and sale of securities, and the other for the trading of securities. Our rules have stood the test of time very well and we should not change them to adapt to technology. Technology ought to be able to fit within our rules”.

Despite his view of the technology as having “promise for adding efficiency to our [capital] marketplace”, he is worried about the investors’ protection aspects of the rules currently governing the capital markets being not readily applicable to the cryptocurrency market.

In explaining the difference between a currency and a commodity, Clayton made it clear that Bitcoin is considered a currency because it’s widely distributed and its distribution was not controlled by a single entity. It’s used as a medium of exchange, and you’re not looking to the efforts of others to increase your return. In the case of a commodity, they generally have a use other than a medium of exchange, which he inferred Bitcoin had none.

A baffling response emerged from Clayton when he was asked in line with Managing Director and Chairwoman of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde’s public opinion of cryptocurrencies in the future as being backed by governments and whether current token offerings would then be validated or will be phased out due to a regulated version. Clayton responded, “we’ll see.”

During the discussion, Clayton revealed to Sorkin how the agency had been trying so hard to educate investors on the dangers of investing in the cryptocurrency and similar markets. He essentially maintained that there are risks involved when participating in such investments. Clayton said:

“We tried to get the word out that although the trading looks like the trading you would see on Nasdaq or on the New York Stock Exchange, these markets do not have the same kinds of safeguards for you. We’ve worked for […] seventy years to try to prevent manipulation in those [traditional] markets, to try and prevent people from taking advantage of the small player.”

In the long-term, Clayton’s view on a regulated cryptocurrency market will hinge on the permanent use case, but right now, he perceives this is currently unclear as there are lots of successes and failures as with any new emerging technology.

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EU Workers Now Have the Option to Take Their Pay in a Euro Stablecoin

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<br /><br /> <br /><br /> Blockchain Payroll Platform WorkChain.io has partnered with tokenization platform STASIS to enable euro-backed crypto paychecks for its European Union (EU) users with the EURS stablecoin. EURS becomes the second stablecoin selected for use on the WorkChain.io platform but the first one collateralized in euros. The platform also supports TrustToken's TrueUSD stablecoin, which is a fiat-collateralized stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar.Speaking with Bitcoin Magazine, WorkChain.io CEO Ryan Fyfe said the inclusion of EURS payment on the platform means "anyone who gets paid in Euros can now choose to get their paycheck in cryptocurrency. And, being a stablecoin, it protects workers and employers from volatility. With the volatility of the cryptocurrency market in recent days, the need for stablecoins has become even more apparent."WorkChain seems to be entirely different from a host of blockchain-based payroll services like Bitwage, the U.S.-based payroll and wage payment platform. Whereas Bitwage offers the typical payroll model with an option to convert monthly payments into bitcoin or ether, WorkChain disrupts the pay period, allowing workers to choose when they want to get paid and in which currency."So, instead of waiting weeks or up to a month to get their paycheck, workers can choose when their payday comes — every day if they want. It’s their paycheck on demand. This gives people more financial control: If you can get your earnings as soon as you earn them, there’s no more putting things like bills and rent off until next payday."The EURS is a fiat-collateralized stablecoin created by Malta-based STASIS in July 2018 with a $100 million pre-launch order book; it aims to be the largest fully "verified and collateralized" stablecoin in the world.Gregory Klumov, CEO of STASIS, echoed Fyfe's sentiments in the release, arguing that making salaries available in EURS extends the practical use of stablecoins "beyond cryptocurrency trading and into the everyday financial lives of regular people.” WorkChain.io is a blockchain-based payroll company that allows for instant payout to employees in crypto. Initially designed for salaried workers, employers can connect their payroll with WorkChain's platform using the company's wallet app, which creates a payroll smart contract to execute payments to employees. At the moment, WorkChain.io's mobile wallet has a few missing parts, but Fyfe promises significant upgrades in the ensuing months.Additional wallet functionality will include users being able to choose to withdraw their cryptocurrency earnings to their bank account or credit card, transfer to any major exchange, spend directly, or save on the WorkChain.io platform, he noted.<br /><br /> <br /><br /> This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

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