The Bitcoin Blog

The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates has moved to clarify recent regulations released on January 1, 2017, that claimed “all virtual currencies are prohibited”. Now, the monetary authority has confirmed that new regulations will not outlaw virtual currencies like Bitcoin. On January 1, the Central Bank of the UAE released a new  regulatory framework  [PDF] for electronic payment systems. In a marked provision toward virtual currencies specifically, the regulation simply stated: “All virtual currencies (and any transactions thereof) are prohibited.” The sweeping statement that constitutes a ban on the use of digital currencies like bitcoin crept under the radar, relatively speaking, at a time when the UAE is pressing ahead with its  Fintech -friendly agenda. Recent efforts include setting to path a comprehensive switchover to  blockchain-based document storage  for all Government documents by the year 2020. However, the central bank’s Governor, ...

The demand for Bitcoin has surged skywards in the African nation of Nigeria. The country’s weekly Bitcoin exchange volumes since mid-December 2016 have increased to more than NGN 400 million, which is close to $1.3 million. The increasing demand for cryptocurrency in Nigeria was reported by a  leading African tech magazine . The magazine makes use of the available data from  LocalBitcoins  — a peer to peer Bitcoin marketplace to present its case. The Nigerian cryptocurrency community has access to multiple Bitcoin platforms, and LocalBitcoins is just one among them. The Bitcoin demand among Eurozone nations on the platform is found to be on par with that of Nigeria’s volumes. The increase in demand also coincides with the increasing traffic from the region. Website data indicate that over 16% of visitors on LocalBitcoins are from Nigeria. Even the internet search trends in the country show a significant increase in Bitcoin-related searches. The publication specul...

European banks are at risk of losing a significant portion of their profits with digital disruption cutting their profits in half by 2020, according to a report from McKinsey. The report,  A Brave New World for Global Banking , states that major developed markets in Europe and the United Kingdom have $35 billion, or 31 percent, of profits at risk. It adds that more severe digital disruption could further cut banks’ profits from $110 billion today to $50 billion in the next three years and slice returns on equity (ROEs) in half from one to two percent in the same timeframe. However, the study found that of the major markets, the United States banking industry appeared to be in the best position to face these issues with the recent presidential election playing a role in the hopes of a gentler regulatory environment. Japanese and U.S. banks have between $1 billion and $45 billion in profits at risk by 2020 to digital disruption. Yet, after mitigation the profitability woul...

F or the first time in the history of humankind, a currency has reached and surpassed the value of the oldest money on earth, gold. At around 5 PM London time on the fourth of January 2017 one bitcoin stood at $1,197 (8,320 CNY) at Huobi and 8,320 CNY at OKCoin, two of the main and most liquid bitcoin exchanges, while gold stood at $1,166 Two of the Most Liquid Bitcoin Exchanges Surpassed Gold Parity and ATH at 5 PM GM T  on the 4th of January 2017. Reaching gold parity is an historical milestone for the eight-year-old digital currency which has grabbed the world’s imagination since its invention, spurring thousands of likewise blockchains, with the most prominent, Ethereum, which extends the capabilities of this new invention to that of fully programmable money. If it maintains it, the event will probably be seen as the tipping point as the permissionless, decentralized, cost efficient, limited, programmable money, which even the United States government accepts...

TOP 7 Reasons why Onecoin is a Scam. 1. Onecoin, like other fake digital currencies before it does not have a whitepaper to show people what the currency is about. There are no peer reviews etc.  What is Onecoin hiding? It is just feeding on the gullibility of people. 2. Onecoin cannot be exchanged in ALL the major cryptocurrency exchanges eg kraken, bitstamp,  cex.io , poloniex, bitfinex, quoine, etc meaning you cannot get your cash out except you sell to another onecoin, you are at the mercies of only people doing Onecoin to get your money out. 3. Onecoin is over two years old and no merchants currently accept it. However within 6 months of Bitcoins availability in the ecosystem people were able to exchange goods and services with it as a currency of payment. Today over 100,000 offline and online merchants accept bitcoin. Prominent among them is  overstock.com . All these point to the acceptance of a currency that is true and open. 4. Onecoin use...

Happy New Year Bitcoiners and Bitcoin doubters. Indeed 2016 can be said to be the year Bitcoin took its biggest step into becoming a main stream currency. Driven by economic, geopolitical and other factors, 2016 saw Bitcoin gradually retracing its steps back to its highest level of 2013.  2016 also saw Bitcoin thumping major currencies and precious metals like the USD and Gold to emerge as the fastest growing asset class in 2016 (a feat it also achieved in 2015). The year in review also witnessed (as expected) a lot of scam cryptocurrency schemes which rode on the crest of the Bitcoin phenomenon, edinar, elcoin, onecoin, tbc elcoin etc. all without whitepapers, positive peer reviews and lack of availability on any exchange.  Many got sucked into the mentioned coin scams and still have their funds stuck there. To this group I say a big sorry and pray you get the chance to rectify the errors. I recall sometime towards the end of the year 2016 I ma...

Good day my Nigerian Bitcoin enthusiasts and pessimist. Talking or writing about Bitcoin has become a dangerous passion that I can't let go. Consequently the launch of my free ebook on Bitcoin (which I made available to Bitcoiners this week. download here if you have not read it)  has brought with it many questions and requests for meet ups as more and more seek for more information about this technology that is already disrupting the global financial eco-system. I was shocked with the over 1,000 downloads the book received in 48 hours.  As usual, asides wanting to know what Bitcoin is, how it works, what its origins are, the most recurring questions are; Is Bitcoin safe, How do I make money from Bitcoin and the most important (which truly no man can answer with 100% assurance) which is will the price still go up from the current price? Is it not too late to invest in Bitcoin now that the price is at $950. Basically what most respondents wanted to do was to put me in...