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US regulators want to limit what you can do with your smartphone while you’re behind the wheel. Today, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published its first safety guidelines regarding driver distraction, targeting portable and aftermarket devices (a.k.a. smartphones) or other gear you that…

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Coinbase’s Taxing Saga With the IRS: What Does It Really Mean? The recent Internal Revenue Service request to Coinbase, seeking records of...

The post IRS vs Coinbase: Massive Implications for Bitcoin, Digital Currencies appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

21 Inc has applied for a patent for specialized bitcoin mining circuitry, public records show.

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A new white paper by blockchain consortium R3 and global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright explores whether blockchain-based "smart contracts" are legally binding under current legislation in different countries.

Smart contracts are blockchain-based contracts that execute automatically and immediately when certain conditions coded into the contract are met. 

Here are the white paper's main findings:

• There are many possible smart contract models. The study identifies two smart contract concepts on either end of a spectrum: the first encodes an entire natural language contract in digital form; the other encodes only the "active" parts of a contract that depend on certain conditions being met — for example, payment. In between, there is a "split" contract written in natural language, but with various data-driven elements that are administered by smart contracts. These split contracts are simpler to create, according to the report, and could be used by financial services firms to achieve greater standardization in data formats. 
• Whether or not smart contracts are legally binding partly depends on the jurisdiction. There have been advances in many countries regarding the legal acceptability of electronic contracts, which are likely to carry over to smart contracts. This should give industries looking to benefit from smart contracts — the insurance and securities industries, in particular, have expressed interest in the technology — hope that it will not be too difficult for legal frameworks to be created for smart contracts. 
• Smart contracts' underlying technology presents enforceability issues. This is particularly true where contracts are built on permissionless blockchains, which do not allow for a central controlling authority. Since the point of such blockchains is to decentralize authority, they might not provision for an arbitrator to resolve any disputes that arise over a contract that is executed automatically. This is likely why many financial firms considering smart contracts are working on permissioned blockchains.
• Smart contracts should embed dispute resolution mechanisms to reduce friction. For example, a smart contract could include a clause that delegates a matter to an external arbitrator if the parties involved disagree about the contract. This is especially pertinent to insurers, which often deal with contentious claims. 

Smart contracts have many business benefits, but there are clearly still legal hurdles to overcome. The challenges identified in this white paper show it's imperative that legislators, fintechs, and financial regulators find a forum in which to iron out the details of the new technology. This will be necessary to determine whether smart contracts fit into existing legal frameworks, and what new measures must be introduced to accommodate them if they do not. It seems likely that legal precedent will have to be established before financial services providers can onboard this technology.

However, it is worth bearing in mind that major regulators in the EU and UK are already actively exploring blockchain more generally, and may well be considering the implications of smart contracts under this umbrella.

Blockchain technology, which is best known for powering Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, is gaining steam among finance firms because of its potential to streamline processes and increase efficiency. The technology could cut costs by up to $20 billion annually by 2022, according to Santander.

That's because blockchain, which operates as a distributed ledger, has the ability to allow multiple parties to transfer and store sensitive information in a space that’s secure, permanent, anonymous, and easily accessible. That could simplify paper-heavy, expensive, or logistically complicated financial systems, like remittances and cross-border transfer, shareholder management and ownership exchange, and securities trading, to name a few. And outside of finance, governments and the music industry are investigating the technology’s potential to simplify record-keeping.

As a result, venture capital firms and financial institutions alike are pouring investment into finding, developing, and testing blockchain use cases. Over 50 major financial institutions are involved with collaborative blockchain startups, have begun researching the technology in-house, or have helped fund startups with products rooted in blockchain. 

Jaime Toplin, research associate for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on blockchain technology that explains how blockchain works, why it has the potential to provide a watershed moment for the financial industry, and the different ways it could be put into practice in the coming years.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• Spending on capital markets applications of blockchain is expected to grow at a 52% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2019, according to Aite Group, to reach $400 million that year.
• Banks and major financial institutions are working both collaboratively and independently to develop blockchain tech. Over 50 major financial institutions are involved with collaborative blockchain startups, like R3 CEV or Chain. And many are investing in the technology on their own as well.
• Putting blockchain to use for real-world transactions is likely not that far off. If working groups' tests are successful, firms could be using it to transact real value as early as the end of this year and we could see widespread industry application within the next few years. 

In full, the report:

• Examines the funding increases that are pouring into blockchain
• Assesses why blockchain is becoming so popular and what factors are driving up increased research and development
• Explains in full how blockchain technology work and what assets make it valuable and vulnerable
• Identifies pain points in the financial industry and profiles how various firms are using blockchain to solve them
• Demonstrates the challenges to mainstream adoption and their potential solutions

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of blockchain technology.

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Visa continues to make EMV gains over a year after liability for in-store fraud involving non-chip-enabled terminals shifted from issuers to merchants.

Because Visa is the largest US card network in both cards issued and volume, its progress is important because it could serve as a benchmark for the entire industry, and therefore helps reveal key insights about the progress of the migration.  

EMV usage is on the rise. Forty-one percent of Visa’s US in-store payment volume is now processed as chip-on-chip. And that’s giving merchants major fraud benefits. Counterfeit fraud declined by 43% among Visa EMV merchants, and it’s likely that lost-and-stolen fraud decreased as well. Increases in chip-on-chip transactions are due to gains in two key factors:

• Cards issued: There are now over 388 million chip-enabled Visa cards in the US, 180.6 million of which are credit cards and 208.3 million are debit cards. That’s up from 363 million in August. Based on Visa’s Q3 2016 operational performance data, that means that roughly 55% of credit cards and 43% of debit cards have been upgraded. It’s worth noting that the card migration’s pace is beginning to slow, which could point to a saturation in active card upgrades, but could also show that the migration overall is still moving sluggishly.  
• Merchant acceptance: As consumer cards are upgraded, merchants continue to be more willing to upgrade to EMV terminals because they’re able to reap the fraud benefits for a larger portion of transactions. Now, 1.7 million US Visa merchants are chip enabled, marking 191% growth since last October and the highest bimonthly growth rate in merchant gains since April. 

But as beneficial as EMV progress is for in-store merchants, chip-on-chip acceleration could be costly for e-commerce sellers, particularly at one of the highest online shopping times of the year. If Visa’s numbers serve as a relative industry indicator, in-store fraud will plummet as card issuers and merchants continue to pursue EMV upgrades. But fraud is already shifting to the weakest channel, and ACI Worldwide believes that US fraud attempts will rise by 43% during this year’s holiday season largely due to EMV gains. And those consequences could have a major impact, particularly because Visa expects online shopping to grow by 18% this holiday season. 

The growth in EMV is just one small part of the broader payments ecosystem, which includes merchants, acquirers, processors, issuers, networks, and more.

Evan Bakker and John Heggestuen, analysts at BI Intelligence, have compiled a detailed report on the payments ecosystem that drills into the industry to explain how a broad range of transactions are processed, including prepaid and store cards, as well as revealing which types of companies are in the best and worst position to capitalize on the latest industry trends.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• 2016 will be a watershed year for the payments industry. Payments companies are improving security, expanding their mobile offerings, and building commerce capabilities that will give consumers a more compelling reason to make purchases using digital devices.
• Payments is an extremely complex industry. To understand the next big digital opportunity lies, it's critical to understand how the traditional credit- and debit-processing chain works and what roles acquirers, processors, issuing banks, card networks, independent sales organizations, gateways, and software and hardware providers play.
• Alternative technologies could disrupt the processing ecosystem. Devices ranging from refrigerators to smartwatches now feature payment capabilities, which will spur changes in consumer payment behaviors. Likewise, blockchain technology, the protocol that underlies Bitcoin, could one day change how consumer card payments are verified.

In full, the report:

• Uncovers the key themes and trends affecting the payments industry in 2016 and beyond.
• Gives a detailed description of the stakeholders involved in a payment transaction, along with hardware and software providers.
• Offers diagrams and infographics explaining how card transactions are processed and which players are involved in each step.
• Provides charts on our latest forecasts, key company growth, survey results, and more.
• Analyzes the alternative technologies, including blockchain, which could further disrupt the ecosystem.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the payments ecosystem.

Join the conversation about this story »

[…]

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The post Belize Financial Regulator Warns Against Fraudulent Bitcoin Investment Company appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

A UN organization focused on criminal justice issues organized a meeting on bitcoin and digital currencies this past summer in Uganda.

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Scotland's capital now hosts a bitcoin ATM.

The post Edinburgh Gets its First Ever Bitcoin ATM appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

London-based bitcoin wallet provider Blockchain has opened its 10 millionth digital wallet.

It comes almost two weeks after the company's cofounder and CEO Peter Smith told Business Insider the company would "pretty easily" have its biggest ever month for activity in November, following a surge in use after Donald Trump's shock election victory in the US.

He told BI shortly after the election: "People are basically hedging against economic instability. It's a worrying time to be holding a lot of British pound or if you're America — people flee to safe haven assets. Bitcoin is one of those."

Smith says in an emailed statement on Wednesday: "Hitting this milestone at this particular moment isn’t a coincidence. In the wake of the Brexit vote, the US Presidential election and a weakening Yuan, we have seen unprecedented levels of activity and transaction on our platform, which further suggests that people are embracing the need for a more globally accessible currency system, and one that does not exclude over one-third of the world’s population.

"We are excited to play such an important role in powering the world’s shift to a more open, fair and accessible financial system."

Blockchain lets people download software onto their computer that lets them open a digital wallet to store cryptocurrency bitcoin. The wallet, which lets people store their own bitcoin rather than hold it with Blockchain, can also be used to pay for things using bitcoin.

Blockchain employs around 25 people in London but also has offices in Luxembourg and New York. The company is the world's biggest provider of digital wallets for bitcoin, with over 50% market share, and processes over 150,000 transactions a day on average. It has raised over $30 million (£23.9 million) to date.

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After its cash curb, India could be set to put the brakes on gold imports.

The post India Googles ‘Buy Bitcoin’ as Nation Explores Gold Imports Ban appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

Months after his release from prison for money laundering violations, entrepreneur Charlie Shrem has announced a new blockchain venture.

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