Bitcoin News Roundup – 24 May 2015
Posted by: DeepDotWeb
May 24, 2015
Recapping the week’s biggest Bitcoins stories from around the web.
The New York Stock Exchange favors the bitcoin, seeking to launch a bitcoin pricing index. As Seth Fiegerman of Mashable reports, following Bloomberg, Google and NASDAQ, the NYSE aims to introduce a leading bitcoin valuation system, providing investors with price information. Tom Farley, NYSE president states that “We are now going to use our name, reputation and global index provider stature to provide bitcoin values that the rest of the market can look to.”The new index will be seen on the NYSE Global index feed.
Pay Pal is fined for fraudulent practices. As P. H. Madore of CryptoCoins News writes, Pay Pal is fined $10 million by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for signing up customers into a credit program without their approval. The Bureau expects Pay Pal to return $15 million, which was illegally taken from the customers and pay the $10 million fine.
A bitcoin Ponzi scheme is under investigation in Thailand. As Sarah Jenn of NewsBtc writes, the Thai police have searched 13 rooms in a Bangkok apartment complex seeking for UFun, an alleged Ponzi scheme. The illegal investment structure has been operating for a long time under the management of Kevin Lai, manager of UDBP Management in Thailand. According to the Thai police, nearly 120,000 people have lost almost $1.13 billion with UFun.
Regulation
Citi advocates that the UK government should approve the creation of its own digital currency. As Rob Price of Business Insider reports, Citi has submitted a document to the UK government highlighting the risks of the bitcoin, but also its great potential. According to the document “the greatest benefits of digital currencies can be realised through the government issuing a digital form of legal tender.” Additionally, Citi calls for clear regulatory guidelines, stating that “resolving this uncertainty will allow banks to make decisions on how to approach digital currencies.”
North Carolina favors bitcoin regulation. As Chris Kovatchof Brave New Coinwrites, the North Carolina House of Representatives has passed House Bill 289 for the regulation of the digital currencies, seeking to legislate a new Money Transmitters Act (MTA). The bill was filed through the office of North Carolina’s Commissioner of Banks (NCOOB). On the other hand. Some expect that the bill might hurt North Carolina’s job growth.
Taxes
Sweden introduces tax regulations for bitcoin mining operations. As Evander Smart of CryptoCoins News writes, the Swedish Tax Authority has issued tax regulations for the digital currency because it is not deemed as a capital and cannot be taxed as income from economic activity, or a hobby. Additionally, mining has a fairly high costand low profit potential. These tax regulations aim to boost domestic economic growth and are an indication that Sweden isn’t planning to ban the bitcoin, at least not for now.
Payments
E-Coin partners with BitGo for greater security in bitcoin transactions. As Scott Fargo of Inside Bitcoinsreports, E-Coin, the bitcoin debit card provider has entered a partnership with BitGo, the renowned bitcoin wallet platform, aiming to offer their customers improved safety of their bitcoin accounts as well as faster and more efficient transfer of funds.
Yellow, the bitcoin startup, launches a bitcoin voucher service in Egypt. As Joseph Young of Coin Telegraph writes,eventtus.com is expected to increase the bitcoin liquidity in Egypt as statistics show that only 10% of the population know how to use a credit card or has a bank account. Additionally, although Egypt has a very low credit card penetration rate (2%), it is the first country in the MENA region allowed to trade bitcoin for the local currency (Egyptian Pound).
Updated: 2015-05-24