Your Cryptocurrency Newsletter for January 14, 2021

If you are interested in cryptocurrencies, this newsletter is for you. [img]  [Learn more about RevenueStripe...](   [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [img]( [FeedBinary Newsletter]( [Which Countries Have (And Haven’t) Legalized Cryptocurrencies]( List of Countries Where Bitcoin/Cryptocurrency Is Legal & Illegal (Banned) The legalization battle of cryptocurrencies is going on ever since the success stories of bitcoin started surfacing the internet. The term ‘cryptocurrency’ refers to a digital currency that is used for performing digital transactions and uses cryptography to ensure the security of such transactions. Bitcoin (BTC) may have been the first widely successfully cryptocurrency, but it was soon followed by many others, including Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (TCC), Dash, Ripple and more. Now, we have so many cryptocurrencies that we often wonder which ones are actually legal and which are not. The problem with cryptocurrencies is that they do not have a regulation system. In fact, crypto tokens are not made to regulate. This is why it is usually difficult for the governments (or countries) to legalize these currencies.While many countries have not shown a positive attitude towards cryptocurrencies, there are a number of countries where the use and trading of these currencies are illegal. Let’s find out which these countries are and which crypto-coins are legalized by which countries. Cryptocurrency Legality By Country 1. Japan Being one of the fastest developing technology markets in the world, Japan had to legalize cryptocurrencies sooner or later. The country’s government has set up a specific PSA (Payment Services Act) based framework which allows some cryptocurrencies and a number of exchanges to be used for payment and trading purposes. Japan is now widely considered a hub for cryptocurrency trading/exchange in Asia. 2. United States The US government, in 2013, accepted bitcoin as a decentralized virtual currency that can be used for performing transactions. It was classified as a commodity by CFTC in September 2015. Bitcoin is also taxable as a property. To sum up, bitcoin is legal in the USA, however, there is no clarification about the legalization of other cryptocurrencies. 3. Germany Germany is one of the few European countries that not only allow cryptocurrencies but are also actively involved in the development of blockchain solutions. Germany has completely legalized bitcoin allowing citizens to transact and trade in this coin. The recognition of Bitcoin by the German government has also improved the value of these coins in the worldwide market. 4. France By issuing a regulation note on 11 July 2014, the country has legalized the operation of virtual currencies such as bitcoin, along with cryptocurrency exchanges, taxation and provided authority to those who are involved in the trading and use of such currencies. 5. Malta Malta has added its name to the long list of countries that are finally accepting bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a legal mode for digital transactions.The cabinet of Malta recently approved the bills regarding the regulation of cryptocurrency and ICOs in the country, which officially makes it a fully fledged crypto-legal country. 6. Canada In August 2017, the Canadian government accepted Impak Coin as its first legalized cryptocurrency. The Quebec regulation authority had previously legalized bitcoin for some limited business models including ATMs and exchanges.However, the Bank of Montreal and some other Canadian states do not allow their customers to use their bank cards for performing cryptocurrency transactions. 7. Belarus Effecting from March 28, 2019, cryptocurrencies will be legalized in Belarus, as per a recent order by the government.In addition to the leading crypto-coins, many exchanges, ICOs, and smart contracts will also be legal in the country. The step was taken with the aim to enforce the development of a digital economy. As per the news, crypto activities will be completely tax-free. 8. Holland It is one of the countries which has shown a positive attitude towards bitcoin and other virtual currencies. There is a special region, called “Bitcoin City” in Holland where all bitcoin transactions including retail purchases, trading and business are completely legal.However, the Holland government has not yet regulated or officially legalized the use of any cryptocurrency. 9. Vietnam The trading and purchase of cryptocurrencies are legal in Vietnam, however, the government of Vietnam doesn’t allow its citizens to use any virtual currency as a payment tool.That means creating new cryptocurrencies and launching ICOs in Vietnam is completely legal and so is the trading of cryptocurrency at popular exchanges. The government is also reportedly working on legalizing bitcoin as a method of payment by 2019 end. 10. Singapore The use and trading of bitcoin and other popular virtual currencies are legal in Singapore, but the government doesn’t control the operations or price of these currencies. Cryptocurrencies, by nature, are supposed to be unregulated.Therefore, it shouldn’t be a problem for merchants and consumers in Singapore to freely use cryptocurrencies. The use of bitcoin in Singapore is taxable in some cases. 11. Thailand The bank of Thailand had legalized the use of bitcoin in the country in 2017. The exchange and trading of digital currencies are allowed provided that proper care is taken. Only licensed bitcoin exchanges in Thailand are allowed to exchange cryptocurrencies for Thai Baht.However, the central bank of Thailand doesn’t allow its users and associated financial institutions to participate in any kind of cryptocurrency-related business. 12. India India has finally decided to go along with the cryptocurrency and first on the list would be the bitcoin.The country has made some special provisions to keep up the trend and has recently decided to levy a tax on virtual currency trading. [Read Full News]( The post [Which Countries Have (And Haven't) Legalized Cryptocurrencies]( first appeared on [Feed Binary](. [Read Full Story]( ------------------ You Might Like     [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( ------------------ [Blockchain in Real Estate: What’s Next in Tech Innovation?]( Blockchain has been around for a little more than a decade, but the benefits of this digital method for moving around valuables are still unknown to many commercial real estate executives.However, Blockchain and real estate have been regularly used in the same sentence during the past several years, and experts predict Blockchain and cryptocurrencies will continue to impact the real estate industry in the years ahead. In their book “Blockchain Revolution,” Don and Alex Tapscott call Blockchain “a distributed trust network that the internet never had but always wanted.” And Blockchain experts say it can make commercial real estate investing more transparent, more efficient and more accessible. WHAT IS BLOCKCHAIN? Blockchain is basically a distributed ledger, validated and stored across all the computers that maintain it—these number thousands or millions. Due to its decentralized nature, the ledger is not managed or owned by an individual or some company, which makes its data immutable and unable to be corrupted. In other words, this database provides perfect transparency—a critical feature in any transaction. In order to perform transactions, one needs to have a wallet. A Blockchain wallet is a program that allows one to spend cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and more. These wallets are secured by cryptographic methods.There are several established Blockchain technology platforms—such as IBM Blockchain, R3 Corda and Hyperledger—and the Foundation for International Blockchain and Real Estate Expertise was established in Amsterdam in 2018 to be a knowledge exchange for the technology. Moreover, the University of California Berkeley has a Blockchain program—Blockchain at Berkeley—where those interested can earn certificates such as Certified Blockchain Technology Professional or Certified Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies Professional. HOW IS BLOCKCHAIN USED IN REAL ESTATE? Blockchain technology in real estate translates into a streamlined transaction that removes intermediaries and the affiliated costs—brokerage fees, lender charges, closing costs, appraisals, inspections and legal fees, etc. As Mountain Life Cos. President Garratt Hasenstab puts it, each of these distinct parties are not only involved in the transaction, but they also take their share when they close a deal. Additionally, through Blockchain technology, the transaction speed—which has always been one of the biggest pain points in the real estate industry—can be improved, he addedThe Blockchain deal is done via a smart contract, which acts as broker-lawyer-arbiter, with each of these processes built into the code of the contract. Each phase in a transaction is a block, each new block is added to the previous one to form a chain. “With each step in the transaction process, the smart contract linked to that deal process progresses and transfers responsibilities to the next party,” Hasenstab, who is a certified Blockchain expert and certified smart contract developer, further explained. “If the first step is for the buyer to provide and offer an earnest money deposit, once this documentation has been uploaded to the smart contract Blockchain platform, the smart contract will automatically notify the seller and move on to the next step of the transaction process seamlessly and transparently.” Blockchain in real estate allows for fractionalization or the division of owner equity into pieces that can be bought individually—something referred to as tokenization or the democratization of an asset. This is a major benefit, especially for smaller investors, who can access an asset that was previously unreachable due to elevated costs. Even though it’s still an emergent technology, the number of Blockchain-based businesses is rising. Some are built as a commercial real estate marketplace with Blockchain as their underlying tech, while others are designed as a Blockchain platform focused on real estate asset tokenization and investment. Regardless of the platform, Hasenstab and Revathi Greenwood, Americas Head of Research at Cushman & Wakefield, both agree that prior to any investment one must complete their due diligence and get to know the company and its management company. Edward Nwokedi, CEO of RedSwan CRE, decided to launch his company because the commercial real estate property owners and investors were “crying for an answer” to several problems—including liquidity and access to the best projects—and tokenization provided a novel solution.“The risk level for investing $5 million to $20 million of equity at a 4.5 percent cap rate is a threshold few are willing to explore,” Nwokedi said. According to Greenwood, when choosing a Blockchain in commercial real estate, four main criteria should always be on the radar: security, flexibility, scalability and cost. “Since this is a new technology, it should be flexible enough to operate with multiple frameworks,” said Greenwood. “At the same time, security measures are critical to verify identities and network transactions. The costs should be transparent not long-term, and on a pay-as-you-go basis, so that users have flexibility.” ABOUT SAFETY Being a decentralized system with no single party in control, the Blockchain technology is built to be secure―even administrators do not have the ability to change the information recorded in each chain.“Records are secured in blocks through cryptography and linked. Therefore, tampering with one record would mean having to change an entire series or chain of data blocks,” noted Greenwood. Nevertheless, hackers will continue to attempt to infiltrate a Blockchain platform, Greenwood said, so the Blockchain industry must increase security protocols, adopting multiple authentication techniques, similar to those applied by the banking industry. Hasenstab believes that the Blockchain technology represents the future of security, transparency and immutability for investments of all kinds, including real-world, physical assets such as real estate. [Read Full News]( The post [Blockchain in Real Estate: What’s Next in Tech Innovation?]( first appeared on [Feed Binary](. [Read Full Story]( ------------------ You Might Like     [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( ------------------ [Twitter Shares Tumble More Than 10% After Site Permanently Bans Trump]( Shares of Twitter (TWTR) sank more than 10% on Monday after the social media company permanently banned President Donald Trump from the platform late last week.The tech company suspended Trump’s account on Friday in a move to prevent him from using the platform to incite further unrest among his supporters following the violent protests at the U.S. Capitol last week, according to Twitter. Shortly after market open Monday, the stock dropped as much as 12.3% to reach as low as $45.17 per share. The context, rather than just the content, of some of Trump’s latest tweets suggested “they were highly likely to encourage and inspire people to replicate the criminal acts that took place at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021,” Twitter wrote in a statement explaining its decision. In one Tweet, Trump asserted that his supporters would “not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way,” and in another, noted he would not be attending the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on Jan. 20, suggesting the event “would be a ‘safe’ target, as he will not be attending,” Twitter added. The ban marked the sharpest escalation of Twitter’s crackdown on Trump’s posts on the platform, which over the last several months especially had been riddled with baseless claims of voter fraud in the 2020 elections. Last year, Twitter began flagging some of Trump’s tweets with a disclaimer calling his assertions of election fraud “disputed.” And last week, Twitter, along with Facebook (FB) and Google-owned YouTube (GOOGL), took down a video of Trump calling for U.S. Capitol rioters to “go home,” but repeating unsubstantiated claims that the “election was stolen from us.” Other social media sites also took a harder-line stance against Trump and other accounts that spread misinformation in the last several days, in a watershed moment for some platforms that had previously abdicated responsibility over regulating much of the content users posted on their sites. Facebook (FB) blocked Trump’s accounts on both Facebook and Instagram at least until the end of his term, extending the ban after what had been a 24-hour block of his account after Wednesday’s violence in Washington. Snap (SNAP) also joined in blocking Trump from posting to Snapchat. Shares of Facebook and Snap also declined more than 1% in overnight trading. Meanwhile, Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOGL) on Friday removed Parler, an app popular among conservatives and supporters of Trump, from their respective app stores after saying the company did not do enough to address violent threats on its platform. Amazon (AMZN) said it would no longer host Parler on Amazon Web Services over the weekend, bringing the company offline without a server as of Monday. And the online forum Reddit also banned the subreddit “r/donaldtrump,” or its topic page dedicated to discussions about Trump, on Friday. Shares of Twitter have declined nearly 5% for 2021 to-date, but were higher by 57% over the past 12 months through Friday’s close. [Read Full News]( The post [Twitter Shares Tumble More Than 10% After Site Permanently Bans Trump]( first appeared on [Feed Binary](. 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