Bitcoin's Hottest Updates Nov. 14-21
India’s Rupee Ban Causes Bitcoin Fever
Last week Coinmama’s weekly review detailed India’s Prime Minister banning large denominations of the rupee. Following this event gold markets in India and Bitcoin markets subsequently rose exponentially. According to various reports, the price of Bitcoin was exceedingly higher in India in comparison to local exchanges. In fact, the price per BTC had a $100-150 USD higher spread within the region.
Bitcoin Proponents and Industry Members Create $1.2 Million Development Grant
On November 16 a large group of companies and digital currency industry executives announced the launch of a new Bitcoin development grant. The funding of $1.2 million dollars has been announced to further protocol development. Companies involved include Purse, Blockchain, Bitmain, Mycelium, CoinATMRadar, and much more. However, the funding will go to those who follow the principles that there is no “official” Bitcoin protocol and is adverse to censorship.
Singapore Startup KYCK! and IBM Will Build a Know Your Customer (KYC) Type Blockchain
The Singapore startup KYCK! Is working with IBM’s blockchain team to create a KYC blockchain proof-of-concept according to IBM. The platform aims to onboard customers within the private infrastructure of IBM’s Fabric blockchain. KYCK! will use the technology so customers can access brokerage accounts and investments after verification. The process is claimed to be both a transparent and immutable method of validating individual identity.
U.S. Internal Revenue Service Looks At Bitcoin Users
According to a recent report, the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) the U.S. agency will look more closely at Bitcoin users. In addition to this report, the Bitcoin company Coinbase has been petitioned by the IRS to detail information about its user base. According to the IRS, some users of the Coinbase service have not been reporting data accordingly with their taxes. So the IRS is asking the company for data on all its users over the past three years. The company says it will do everything possible to avoid disclosing all users information concerning this tax probe.
Bitcoin Tipping Application ChangeTip Shuts Down
The popular cryptocurrency tipping platform ChangeTip has announced it will be shutting down its services. ChangeTip founder Nick Sullivan revealed the team was acqui-hired by the travel company Airbnb and no one could feasibly come up with ideas to keep the platform going. The tipping app was quite popular allowing individuals to tip in Bitcoin across social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit. Users are asked to withdraw funds over the course of the next few months.
Dubai Legislators Will Host Bitcoin Workshop
In order to create digital currency awareness the Supreme Legislation Committee in the Emirate of Dubai (SLC) will be hosting a Bitcoin workshop. Blockchain technology has been a subject the country of Dubai has been quite focused on. The country’s Crown Prince has allocated one billion dirhams ($275 million USD) to study and develop these technologies accordingly. The Bitcoin workshop in Dubai will educate attendees on the benefits of the digital currency as well as propose possible legislation.
South African TV Show Shark Tank Talks Bitcoin
The television broadcast Shark Tank in South Africa has South African entrepreneur Vinny Lingham as a “Shark.” Lingham is the founder of the blockchain-based identity company Civic and the co-founder of Gyft. In the show, Lingham offers Bitcoin towards a percentage of an inventor's business. The Civic founder is a huge proponent of the Bitcoin landscape and has predicted the digital currency will rise exponentially in the coming years.
Bitcoin Miners Can Now Signal For Segregated Witness (SegWit) Support
The SegWit soft fork implementation has been coded into the latest bitcoin software release (0.13.1). Community members believe the protocol technique will enhance scalability to a degree alongside malleability enhancements. After block 439,488 Bitcoin miners now have the ability to show SegWit support. The consensus of 95% of the mining hashrate has to agree in order to lock in the protocol implementation. However, some mining operations such as the ViaBTC pool may not support this effort. Some have attributed the price rise in correlation to SegWits upcoming arrival.
Blockchain Firm Bitmark raises $1.7 Million
The blockchain focused startup Bitmark aims to enhance property rights through distributed ledger technology. The startup successfully raised $1.7 million in seed funding from the Digital Currency Group, Cherubic Ventures, and WI Harper. With the platforms features, properties can be validated through assets called “bitmarks” while enhancing security and transparency. The company has filed a patent for its property rights distributed ledger proof-of-concept.
Coinmama’s Conclusion
News has been quite positive this past week, and the price of Bitcoin has the community excited. The volatility has been all over the place as the price tapped a high of $753 on the evening of November 19 but has dipped significantly the following day. At press time the price per BTC is $728, and there seems to be a market sell-off at the moment. However, the price has never lasted this long above $600 as previous highs never lasted more than 53 days. This years highs have sustained longer and has beaten past price trend records. Coinmama will be following the price trends very closely alongside the daily news headlines.
Stay tuned next week as Coinmama reviews the hottest most trending movements within the cryptocurrency circuit.