It appears that Justin Sun, who recently purchased the Steem website, is attempting to take over the Steem blockchain. Community-elected Witnesses (or blockchain validators) were replaced by high-value accounts associated with several major exchanges, such as Huobi, Binance, and Poloniex. User funds on deposit at these exchanges were likely leveraged in this move. The takeaway is the Proof of Stake blockchains like Steem are vulnerable to such splits.
Bitcoin received greater legal recognition across the globe this week. Bitcoin was recognized as a currency by a French court, meaning it’s seen by officials as money, more precisely “a fungible intangible asset.” This follows a similar German ruling, when the country’s financial regulator also released 5 definitions for any cryptocurrency. South Korea also proposed changes to its financial rules which would allow clear and full legal recognition of crypto activity, if passed. These rulings provide greater regulatory clarity, which should boost crypto adoption.
The Reserve Bank of India’s ban on Bitcoin was reversed in the country’s Supreme Court. Several Indian crypto exchanges resumed their operations almost immediately, whereas they’d previously been legally barred from trading in crypto. However, the RBI is seeking to reinstate the ban so the legality of Bitcoin in India is not yet settled.
Famous insurer Lloyds is now expanding its cryptocurrency insurance from cold to hot wallets. This means that crypto exchanges and other business which must maintain hot wallets – or wallets exposed to the internet – can now insure such funds against theft or loss.
Before we conclude, this week’s “Bitcoin quick question” is what is cloud mining?
Cloud mining is a term describing companies that allow you to rent mining hardware they operate and maintain in exchange for a fixed fee and a share of the revenue you’ll make. It basically means that you can mine remotely without the need for buying expensive mining hardware.
Most, if not all, cloud mining companies today are either plain scams or work through an ineffective business model. By ineffective, I mean that you will either lose money or earn less than you would have by just buying and holding Bitcoins.
If you want to learn more about cloud mining and see a real live example of why we believe they don’t work visit the link in the description.
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That’s what’s happened this week in Bitcoin. See you next week.
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