The US Government Is Powerless to Block Bitcoin Addresses

It has been widely reported this week that the U.S. government has blacklisted two BTC addresses linked to cyber crime. These particular addresses were singled out because their owners are believed to be Iranians, whose country is currently facing heavy economic sanctions from the U.S. While the BTC addresses are clearly connected to ransomware, mainstream media has gotten one crucial element of the story wrong: You can't blacklist a bitcoin address.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is the financial intelligence wing of the U.S. Treasury Department. It enforces economic sanctions against foreign entities the American government has taken exception to. Right now, it has Iran in its sights. By OFAC's own admission, however, trying to blacklist bitcoin addresses is a first. "While OFAC routinely provides identifiers for designated persons, today's action marks the first time OFAC is publicly attributing digital currency addresses to designated individuals," explained the agency, adding:

Like traditional identifiers, these digital currency addresses should assist those in the compliance and digital currency communities in identifying transactions and funds that must be blocked and investigating any connections to these addresses.  As a result of today's action, persons that engage in transactions with [these addresses] could be subject to secondary sanctions.

You Can't Blacklist a Bitcoin Address

The addresses in question, 149w62rY42aZBox8fGcmqNsXUzSStKeq8C and 1AjZPMsnmpdK2Rv9KQNfMurTXinscVro9V, have been involved in over 7,000 transactions since 2013 and received close to 6,000 BTC. As of Nov. 28, anyone interacting with these addresses could technically be held liable by the U.S. government and punished in some way. In reality, though, these threats are little more than empty words. No one — not even the U.S. government, with its army of apparatchiks and enforcers — can prevent a specific address from sending or receiving bitcoin. With cryptocurrencies such as EOS or ripple, OFAC would likely have more success, but decentralized assets such as BTC and BCH are uncensorable.

To demonstrate the pointlessness of the blacklisting, both BTC addresses have received transactions in the past 24 hours. In one instance, vanity addresses were used to troll OFAC and to reiterate the futility of its digital currency sanctions. While cryptocurrency exchanges can and do block accounts linked to certain addresses, the Bitcoin protocol remains immune from such interference. Permissionless and stateless, bitcoin can't be blacklisted. That's why it's so valuable.

Korean Lawmaker Introduces Bill to Promote Crypto Trading

A South Korean lawmaker has reportedly introduced a bill to promote cryptocurrency trading and the development of crypto exchanges. In addition to requirements such as capital, manpower, and internal systems, the bill proposes establishing a committee to promote and support crypto trading.

Promoting Crypto Trading

Korean lawmaker Kim Sun-dong, a member of the National Assembly's Political Committee, announced last week that he has initiated the Digital Asset Trading Promotion Act, local media reported. Seoul Finance elaborated:

"The Digital Asset Trading Promotion Act' includes a comprehensive plan for establishing a guideline for promoting the development of virtual currency exchanges and blockchain technology, tax reduction and exemption, measures against hacking damage, and prevention of market disturbances."

Kim emphasized the need for a law dedicated to promoting crypto businesses to avoid companies leaving Korea, citing Bithumb as an example. He pointed out that even though crypto transactions in Korea accounted for a large percentage of the domestic stock market transactions at the beginning of this year, one of the largest crypto exchanges, Bithumb, was recently sold to a Singapore-based consortium.

He also noted that Japan has already completed legislative procedures to institutionalize crypto transactions and the U.S. has allowed the trading of cryptocurrency derivatives.

About the New Crypto Bill

The bill first defines "virtual content with an apparent value such as online money, points, game items and virtual currencies as digital assets," the publication detailed. It also defines the operators dealing with them as digital asset trading companies. The news outlet added:

"Those who want to operate a digital asset trading business should have more than 3 billion won [~$2.66 million] in capital, enough manpower, computerized systems, and physical equipment to be approved by the Financial Services Commission [FSC]."

If an exchange is hacked and its customers suffer losses of crypto assets, the bill submits that the exchange must assume the liability for damage to the traders.

The publication added that some examples of industry promotion mentioned in the bill include the establishment of a digital asset trading committee, the promotion of research and development projects, financial support, professional training, and tax reduction. According to Metro Seoul newspaper, the committee will be tasked with resolving issues requested by the FSC such as setting standards and policies relating to crypto assets, as well as coordinating between relevant administrative agencies.

Kim was further quoted as saying:

"The government is focusing only on the risk of virtual currency and concentrating only on the crackdown of illegal activities … In order to lead the global trend of blockchain technology development, it is necessary to prepare laws and regulations as soon as possible."

KPMG: Institutional Investment Key to Cryptoassets Growth

Auditors KPMG have published a report stressing the need for institutional investors to join the cryptocurrency industry. The report outlines the importance of cryptoassets as an investment alternative and how institutional investors can take part in the process.

Digital Assets Have Potential, Institutionalization Needed to Scale'

In the report, released Nov. 18, the Netherlands-based firm said a new world of finance is emerging in which transacting in digital assets may become standard operation. "Cryptoassets have potential," KPMG wrote, in the report titled 'Institutionalization of Cryptoassets."

"But for them to realize this potential, institutionalization is needed. Institutionalization is the at-scale participation in the crypto market of banks, broker dealers, exchanges, payment providers, fintechs, and other entities in the global financial services ecosystem," it said.

The study comes at a time the use of digital currencies is gaining worldwide adoption, both as a unit in financial transactions and as a store of value.

Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, last week said central banks throughout the world should consider issuing digital currency to make transactions more secure. Lagarde argued that state-backed cryptocurrencies could satisfy public policy goals related to financial inclusion, consumer protection, privacy and fraud prevention.

Although observers point to the risks of central banks' involvement in cryptocurrency, such as the potential to slow down transactions and raise costs through over-regulation, KPMG views the coming on board of financial institutions as crucial to boosting public confidence in digital assets.

"Institutionalization is the necessary next step for crypto and is required to build trust, facilitate scale, increase accessibility, and drive growth," the auditors asserted, adding that it would be prudent for countries in hyperinflation, like Argentina, to adopt cryptocurrencies to preserve value.

KPMG said: "A globally accessible, decentralized store of value could have a significantly stabilizing impact on the country's economy. Bitcoin could potentially represent such a store of value in the future.

"Interestingly, even though there are large price fluctuations with Bitcoin, it is not inherently volatile. The supply is in fact fixed and algorithmically secured. It is the demand that is fluctuating and this could eventually stabilize as the market matures," it added.

Truly Open Global Financial System

Writing in the same report, Coinbase chief compliance officer, Jeff Horowitz, said cryptoassets are an opportunity to transform the financial industry into a truly open global financial system.

"Regulatory agencies are also beginning to seriously discuss cryptoassets, which could help drive institutional participation, encouraging the marketplace to think about how engagement with these assets fits into both existing rules and regulations and new frameworks that may be needed for crypto," he said.

However, Horowitz noted that the focus on cryptocurrency innovation must not come at the expense of security, compliance, and consumer protection.

"Leaders in the crypto space, including crypto entities and industry partners, have a responsibility to help influence and educate key legislators and regulators to advance the overall governance and enforcement framework," Horowitz detailed.

"In many ways, leading crypto companies should aspire to meet the standards and leading practices established by traditional financial services companies. We believe this will help promote trust and accelerate the adoption of crypto by investors and institutional clients," he added.

SEC Investigates Salt Lending’s ICO

In recent regulatory news, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reportedly launched an investigation into Salt Lending's 2017 initial coin offering. Separately, the SEC revealed that it has stopped accepting public comments on nine bitcoin exchange-traded funds that it rejected in August, and digital asset exchange Huobi has announced that it is providing cryptocurrency consulting services to a Russian state-owned bank.

Cryptocurrency loan platform Salt Lending and former board member Erik Voorhees are under investigation by the SEC, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited "people familiar with the probe." Voorhees has responded by publishing a separate article that describes the newspaper's claims as "inaccurate and misleading."

Salt Lending was reportedly subpoenaed by the SEC in February, with the regulator seeking information regarding the $50 million ICO it held in 2017. The report states that the SEC aims to determine whether the ICO constituted an unlicensed securities offering, while also investigating how the proceeds were spent.

Public Comment Closes on Nine Rejected ETFs

Separately, the SEC has revealed that it recently stopped accepting feedback on nine proposed bitcoin ETFs that it rejected on Aug. 22. It said in October that it would review public comments on the proposed funds through early November.

Two of the ETFs in question were filed by Proshares, in partnership with the NYSE Arca exchange. Two others were proposed by Graniteshares, while another five of the rejected ETFs were brought forward by Direxion.

The day after the regulator rejected the ETFs, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce took to Twitter to clarify that it had delegated the assessment of the proposed funds to its staff. She added that the commission would review the decisions made by its staff on the matter. At the time of writing, the SEC had not yet provided any further comment regarding the ETFs, nor had it set a deadline for its deliberations.

Huobi Provides DLT Consulting Services to VEB

Huobi has agreed to provide consulting services to Russia's Vnesheconombank (VEB) relating to distributed ledger technology (DLT), according to Vladimir Demin, the head of VEB's Center of Digital Transformations. He claimed the state-owned bank had started working on DLT projects that do not involve cryptocurrencies or tokens.

"Using [DLT] only in a non-token way is like jumping halfway over the abyss," Demin said, adding that VEB has also been talking to the Bank of Russia and State Duma about cryptocurrency regulations. "Huobi came out as the most suitable partner as they are already working with the governments of Australia, Singapore, [and] China."

Huobi is also reportedly finalizing a contract that will see the company provide training for a DLT program at the Plekhanov University of Economics. Reports about its partnerships in Russia follow the exchange's launch of a office staffed by 30 people in Moscow earlier this month.

Chinese Mining Farms Undergo Tax Inspection, Michigan Bans Campaign Donations in Cryptocurrency

 In recent regulatory news, we report on an authorized mining company in China that has had its operations temporarily halted for tax inspection and implementation of real-name registration processes. We also look at the Michigan Secretary of State's ban on crypto-based political donations, as well as the recent certification of X8's stablecoin for Shariah compliance. In addition, we focus on the operator of a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme who has been punished for misappropriating $601,000 in BTC and LTC from his employer.

Chinese Mining Farms Suspended

According to a statement published by an unidentified cryptocurrency mining company, Chinese state agencies have ordered the suspension of its mining farms in southwestern Guizhou Province and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region for tax inspections and to implement real-name registration processes.

"According to the needs of the public security department's network information security work, in the future, our company will implement higher standards for the company's business real-name system according to the work needs of the public security department," the anonymous company said. "For customers with the latest standard real-name systems, the data center will have to suspend reloading, restarting, moving in and out, etc."

Michigan Secretary of State Says 'No' to Crypto

In a letter addressed to William Baker, a recent candidate for the Michigan state legislature, the office of the Michigan Secretary of State has formally barred cryptocurrency donations to political campaigns.

Baker, who lost his bid in the state's Nov. 6 election, had previously sought clarification on how the value of donations in the form of cryptocurrencies should be recorded. He also asked whether virtual currency exchanges would qualify as valid secondary depositories for the storage of crypto assets.

Baker asserted that "it is self-evident that digital currency is a valid way to receive political contributions." However, the state secretary's office responded by stating that "the law does not authorize such a vehicle, and the department has never determined that digital currencies are a valid way to receive political contributions."

The letter also highlighted concerns pertaining to the price volatility of cryptocurrencies. "As with stocks and commodities, bitcoin's worth fluctuates daily," the office said. "There is no way to ascertain the precise monetary value of one bitcoin on any particular day."

The Michigan Secretary of State raised additional objections to the use of cryptocurrencies as donations. In the letter, the office added that state legislation also "requires that committees deposit funds in an account in a financial institution, which is not an option for cryptocurrency."

X8 Stablecoin Certified as Shariah Compliant

X8C, the stablecoin issued by Swiss fintech company X8 AG, has obtained a certificate showing that its stablecoin is compliant with Shariah law. It received the certification from the Shariyah Review Bureau, an Islamic advisory firm licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain.

Francesca Greco, director and co-founder of X8, announced that the company will soon establish a regional office in the Middle East. Greco also indicated that X8 plans to launch a Shariah-compliant virtual currency exchange, adding that the company has already met with representatives of exchanges based in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Bahrain.

"The Gulf region is a really good place for financial technology companies, because they all want to become hubs for fintech," Greco said.

CFTC Fines Crypto Scheme Operator Over $1.14M

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has ordered Joseph Kim, a resident of Phoenix, to pay more than $1.14 million for operating a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme. Kim was also sentenced to 15 months in prison on "related criminal charges" filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. According to the court order, Kim pleaded guilty to "orchestrating a fraudulent Bitcoin and Litecoin scheme that led to more than $1 million in losses."

Kim was found to have misappropriated $601,000 worth of BTC and LTC from his employer — described as "a Chicago-based proprietary trading firm" — before attempting to fabricate security-related issues to obfuscate the misappropriation of funds. Despite this, the company fired Kim in November 2017 after the theft of the cryptocurrency was discovered.

Between December 2017 and March 2018, Kim then sought to repay his former employer through profits that he had generated through the operation of a cryptocurrency trading scheme. According to the CFTC, he "falsely told customers that he would invest their funds in a low-risk virtual currency arbitrage strategy, when, in fact, Kim made high-risk, directional bets on the movement of virtual currencies that resulted in Kim losing all $545,000 of his customers' funds."

The Growth of Security Tokens in 2018

2018 was meant to be the year of security tokens. The number of projects seeking to launch security token offerings (STOs) would mushroom, we were told, and a string of accredited trading venues would emerge where these instruments could be exchanged. The release of two new reports into the STO market provides an opportunity to reflect on whether security tokens have lived up to the hype.

The Quest to Securitize the World

When the utility token craze took off in 2017, raising billions of dollars through initial coin offerings (ICOs), skeptics predicted that the mania couldn't last. Many of these so-called utility tokens, it was claimed, were actually securities, and it was only a matter of time until a lettered agency such as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission stepped in to call a halt to proceedings. In the event, the demise of the utility token has had less to do with enforcement, and more to do with market conditions that have made it virtually impossible for ICOs to raise funds. A string of underperforming ICOs, including several that were outright scams and others that simply failed to deliver, have blunted public appetite for this fundraising mechanism.

STOs have the potential to overcome several of the drawbacks to ICOs, including the regulatory uncertainty. Because security tokens represent a claim to an asset, such as equity, investors have a degree of reassurance that, in the event of the project faltering, they will have legal redress. This contrasts with utility tokens, which are sold on the understanding that they may be worth nothing and that holders have zero claim to any sort of assets. Two new reports from Hashgard and ICOrating.com provide an insight into the health of the nascent security token market.

STOs See Modest Growth in Q3

ICOrating.com reports that STOs saw a steady increase in interest during Q2 and Q3 of 2018. The share of projects offering a security token increased by a slender 1.66 percent in Q3 over the previous quarter, while the number of projects offering utility tokens decreased by 10 percent. One impediment to projects seeking to launch an STO is a shortage of platforms that are capable of listing their token. Until traditional cryptocurrency exchanges, including a number of Malta-based entities, receive approval to sell securities to accredited investors, a handful of platforms will hold sway.

Leading security trading platforms and frameworks include Tzero, Polymath, Swarm, Harbor, Securitize and Securrency. Different exchanges often use different token standards to facilitate the trading of security tokens. In the case of Polymath, for instance, it's the ST20 protocol for Ethereum-based tokens. Startengine, meanwhile, has introduced its own ERC1450 standard for digital stock certificates. "To date, we have issued ERC1450 tokens to all 3,500 Startengine shareholders, and there are 165 more eligible companies that use Startengine Secure and are expected to be listed on the ERC1450 smart contract," explained CEO Howard Marks.

2019 — the Real Year of Security Tokens?

Significant progress has been made over the last 10 months in developing security token standards, trading platforms, and obtaining regulatory approval. In terms of capital raised, however, STOs have yet to make any major headway. Singapore's Blockchain Capital raised $10 million via STO, while other security token projects include high-tech investment fund Spice VC and incubator fund Science Blockchain. Many other aspiring STO projects are still waiting patiently for the SEC to approve their Reg A+ application that will enable them to sell security tokens to the public.

As demand for utility tokens continues to decrease, expect to see security tokens outstrip them and become the preferred fundraising method for tokenized projects. From a building perspective, this year has recorded plenty of headway in the security token market. Predictions of 2018 being the year of the security token look to have been overstated however. It seems likelier that accolade will go to 2019 instead.

BCH Professional Stress Test scheduled for November 17

After the success of the first Bitcoin BCH stress test on the first of September, the group behind that test have decided to ramp up their efforts to showcase the robustness and reliability of the of the BCH Network.

The group plans a more extensive, more professional stress test on November 17, two days after the scheduled protocol upgrade.

Rather than I tell you about the upcoming stress test, Brenden Lee of https://stresstestbitcoin.cash has put some words on the page to give some insight into their group, their processes and what everyone can expect come November 17.

The Professional Stress Test

"Our team came together to bring the first stress test to life, and while the test itself was something of a success, the 2.2 million transactions were a far cry from the target we had set for ourselves of 5 million transactions.

The reasons were wide-ranging and included a lack of automated systems for re-starting tests that failed, issues with the way some nodes were managing transaction buffers, and a lack of people to run the testing and manage the system.

After the test, a small group of us came together to look at forming a professional testing group, and the idea of the professional stress test was born.

Dale Dickins is an early Bitcoin activist and the maker of a documentary called "The Bitcoin Doco." She works tirelessly to build networks of people who use Bitcoin, creating small social worlds to achieve great things. She has recently been part of the group who brought the Bitcoin Cash Jeepney to the streets of Manila and is working on forming long-term business relationships in Bitcoin.

Esthon Medeiros is the wizard behind the curtain, building and managing the test machinery, currently being referred to as the 'Satoshi Shotgun,' which has significantly evolved since the first test. We now can create many geographically dispersed nodes using multiple Bitcoin clients (we currently support Bitcoin Unlimited, Bitcoin SV and Bitcoin ABC) and can easily regather funds and send large numbers of transactions for a sustained period. The machine's power will be on display during the upcoming pre-test which we hope will achieve at least one 32MB block.

Brendan Lee is the author of BUIP086 which extends the functionality of Bitcoin QR codes and developed and now sells the patented Safewords system through his company Coin storage Guru, while more recently has been fortunate enough to be part of the team at Tokenized, recently awarded the Coingeek Token prize. His role has been planning the strategy for ensuring money and resources are available on the day as well as acting as a technical interface for customers.

John Goldberg is the creator of the innovative Pixel Wallet (an Android BCH wallet that uses pictures to send cash) and was a significant contributor to the original stress test and one of the core members of the BCH Jeepney team, who were the first to implement Handcash's POP Retail system in a real-world application.

We also have Spark who created some fantastic data visualizations for the first stress test and is working on ways to capture the essence of what happens during this stress test.

And finally, Yobits who was the originator of the Stress Test idea and as webpage master has done a great job putting together a beautiful website.

As for the stress test itself, we want it known that we are not here to break things. We, as a team, are aligned with Satoshi Vision, however, have decided to run the test in such a way that a network supporting current rules, or the ABC ruleset would face minimal disruption.

The test will challenge mempools, and users may have to pay slightly higher fees than usual (test transactions will carry a fee of just 1sat/byte, so transactions with two satoshis/byte should usually be mined in the next block regardless of the state of the mempool) for reliable transaction confirmations. However, we believe that if a network wants to call itself Bitcoin, it must be able to show the world that it is anti-fragile, and this includes withstanding attacks that I would consider relatively cheap (we will spend about 70BCH over the course of the day) for a well-funded state based actor to execute.

We are very strong proponents of scaling Bitcoin and believe that a successful demonstration of a public network processing over a million transactions per hour will send a huge signal to businesses and the broader public that Bitcoin Cash is serious about adoption, and serious about becoming a global cash network. We hope that we can generate enough hype through this test that companies looking at implementing cryptocurrency-based payments will put Bitcoin Cash first, as it forges a path towards being the best money possible.

Following the stress test, the team is working on a business plan to create value-added services around generating large volumes of transactions on the blockchain for things such as advertising, corporate testing, stress testing and more. The team is very much looking forward to announcing these efforts soon. – Brendan Lee

ECB Shuts Down Maltese Bank Over Schemes to Launder Money and Evade US Sanctions

Malta's Pilatus Bank has been shut down by the European Central Bank (ECB). Its banking license was revoked after its chairman was charged in the U.S. with money laundering and organizing a scheme to evade U.S. sanctions. The bank had also been accused by a murdered journalist of processing corrupt payments. EU authorities now want new powers to crack down on money laundering.

Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space

Pilatus Bank's License Revoked

Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) announced on Monday that the ECB has withdrawn the banking license of Pilatus Bank which has been operating in Malta for four years.

The Financial Times elaborated:

The move comes several months after U.S. authorities charged the bank's Iranian-born owner and former chairman Seyed Ali Sadr Hasheminejad with organising a scheme to evade U.S. sanctions against Iran by illegally funnelling more than $115 million from Venezuela to Iranian-controlled companies.

The bank was charged in the United States over money laundering and bank fraud," Reuters added.

Although Seyed Ali Sadr Hasheminejad pleaded not guilty and has been released on bail, MFSA removed him from his roles at the bank and froze the bank's assets. In June, the regulator recommended revoking the bank's license but faced numerous legal hurdles. On Monday, MFSA said that "the ECB had acted on its request to close the bank," the Guardian wrote.

Pilatus Bank, which caters to wealthy clients, reported 308 million euros ($351.64 million) of assets in 2016, according to the bank's annual report. Last year, it opened a branch in London after obtaining a U.K. banking license. The bank "was known to have held accounts for a senior official in the government of the Maltese prime minister, Joseph Muscat, and members of Azerbaijan's ruling family," the Financial Times detailed.

Murdered Journalist's Case

ECB Shuts Down Maltese Bank Over Schemes to Launder Money and Evade US Sanctions

Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Pilatus Bank had also been accused of "processing corrupt payments for senior Azeri and Maltese figures" by Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, Reuters described.

Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb in Malta a year ago. However, there has been no proven link between her murder and her story about the bank, the publication conveyed. Nonetheless, the event prompted the EU to begin investigating the bank in October last year.

"Three men suspected of killing her – brothers George and Alfred Degiorgio and their friend Vince Muscat – were arrested during a police operation in December 2017," the BBC added.

Maltese Authorities Investigated

ECB Shuts Down Maltese Bank Over Schemes to Launder Money and Evade US SanctionsThe ECB launched two investigations of how Malta dealt with Pilatus Bank last year, Reuters detailed. The first focused on MFSA but the case was closed in September "in part due to the vagueness of EU regulation," European Banking Authority Chairman Andrea Enria told EU lawmakers.

The second investigation focused on the Maltese Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU), the country's anti-money laundering agency. Enria emphasized that this investigation has uncovered "serious shortcomings that the body did not remedy," the publication noted. A senior EU official explained:

The European Commission reached preliminary agreement on Monday on new actions against the FIAU over its handling of the Pilatus case, which will force Malta to improve the way its anti-money laundering body operates.

Citing that U.S. authorities played a big role in uncovering alleged illicit banking activities in several European cases, the Guardian reported that "EU authorities want new powers to crack down on money laundering after a string of scandals in Estonia, Latvia and Malta."