In this episode BBT takes a look at the Zeus Miner Scrypt based ASIC Blizzard and Thunder.
The team decided to take on Feathercoin for a weekend and see what kinda yields we could generate from a collection of ASIC’s.
Resources:
ZeusMiner Blizzard & Thunder X3
Gridseed Blade 5.2M/H
Gridseed GC355 5-Chip Mini’s
Zoomhash.com – use coupon code BBT
PiMP v1.5.6
A recent legal referral in the EU may be inching the region a little closer to more unity on one small element of bitcoin taxation, but it won’t do much to help global confusion on the matter.
In June, Sweden asked Europe’s highest court, the European Court of Justice (ECJ), whether cryptocurrency exchanges are liable for value-added tax on the fees that they charge for their services. The result could have far-reaching implications for tax in the region.
In Europe, there is a directive on VAT that explains how it should be levied. EU directives are powerful documents, designed as high-level guides that member states can interpret when making their own laws.
VAT on profits from bitcoin exchanges
Cryptocurrencies are so new that few member states have worked out how to interpret the VAT rules for them. Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Ireland and Italy haven’t decided whether to charge bitcoin exchanges VAT on the service that they provide. Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Romania and Slovakia have no regulations on the matter either.
Some other states lie at the opposite end of the spectrum, with firm rulings on the matter. The UK was among the first, effectively making bitcoin trading exempt from VAT in a ruling published in March.
While exchanges and miners are off the hook, though, the UK says that VAT should be charged when goods and services are sold for bitcoin.
Several states have taken an opposing view. Estonia made its own decision about VAT on profits from bitcoin exchange services, levying a 20% tax on those trading bitcoins as a service. It is also charging a 10% tax on profits from selling bitcoins. Poland has imposed a 23% VAT on bitcoin mining profits, although its position on bitcoin exchanges isn’t clear.
Some states are imposing various taxes on cryptocurrency trades, but not necessarily VAT. Lithuania has said it will tax bitcoin trading as personal income at 5%. Slovenia treats mining profits as personal income. It won’t tax people selling bitcoins, but it will examine each case individually. Bulgaria wants a 10% income tax on the sale of bitcoins.
Most of these decisions address a question that Sweden decided it couldn’t answer alone. In June, it asked the ECJ a question that it couldn’t decide for itself, arbitrating a dispute between the Swedish tax authority (Skatteverket), and a private defendant, David Hedqvist.
The question – on the subject of Article 2 (1) of the VAT Directive, which describes what transactions should be subject to VAT – asked whether people who exchange cryptocurrency for fiat currency provide a VAT-relevant service; and if they do, whether that exchange service should be exempt from VAT.
“On most banking transactions, the charges that the bank makes are exempt from VAT, so you don’t pay them,” explains Siân Jones, co-lead of the exchanges regulation and accounting working group for the UK Digital Currency Association (UKDCA), an advocacy group for digital currencies. Sweden wants to know whether this applies to the markup charged for virtual currency exchange.
A decision that could change everything
The ECJ could take up to two years to deliver a decision, which can then be used by Sweden in its policy making, explained European tax lawyer Estoban van Goor.
The ruling could prompt other countries to change their regulations, he warned – or it could even prompt the EU to pass legislation broadly addressing VAT on cryptocurrency. It’s a potentially existential issue for European cryptocurrency exchanges, said van Goor.
An exchange may have to reconsider its business and pricing model, he said:
“If you have an exchange and you apply an exemption, and the tax authorities say we will assess you for VAT, then that could be a game changer for your business.”
VAT on the sale of goods and services for bitcoins
VAT on fees charged for exchanging bitcoins into fiat is relevant to exchanges, which make their money that way, and who are a crucial part of the emerging bitcoin economy. But VAT is also relevant to merchants, who make their money by selling goods and services for bitcoin.
Many countries have been asking themselves whether those merchants should charge VAT on the sale of goods and services in exchange for bitcoin.
Ireland’s finance minister has said that while it doesn’t regulate bitcoin as a currency, VAT might be chargeable on the equivalent value of goods and services exchanged for the cryptocurrency, and that such a tax would have to be invoiced in euros.
In Spain, private legal opinion suggests adding VAT on invoices sent in bitcoin, and says that bitcoin should be taxed as a service.
In other states, uncertainty reigns. Austria is floundering. In some countries, legal opinion suggests tax guidelines, but there appear to be no regulations enforcing it. Legal opinion in the Netherlands suggests VAT would be due on bitcoins received because of its lack of status as either money or financial product, and based on statements made by government officials.
Double taxes
There is a third VAT question that countries must answer: should people be charged VAT when they sell their own bitcoins? Opinion is divided on the matter.
Outside the EU, Norway has made its own decision about the commercial sale of bitcoins via a website. The country treats bitcoins as an asset, which renders it taxable. Because this means that bitcoin isn’t a currency in Norway, the commercial sale of bitcoins can’t be a considered a financial service, which would be VAT-exempt. Consequently, as a VAT-relevant electronic service, selling bitcoins commercially invokes a 25% VAT fee.
In Central and South America, few explicit rules have been passed with regards to cryptocurrency, although Brazil’s tax authority has argued that bitcoin is a financial asset rather than a currency. It will tax people selling bitcoins – but only if the value is over 35,000 Brazilian reals (around $16,000).
One of the worries about imposing VAT on the sale of bitcoin is that in some jurisdictions, it could result in a double tax for merchants dealing in cryptocurrency – once when they take bitcoins in exchange for goods and services, and again when they sell those bitcoins.
Germany, for example, delighted bitcoiners when it announced that bitcoins held for over a year wouldn’t be subject to capital gains tax. But it concerned bitcoin investors and businesses when it recommended a tax on the commercial sale of bitcoin. The country, which classes bitcoin as a ‘financial instrument’ rather than a functional currency, classifies its sale as a “miscellaneous service”, which would invoke VAT.
The danger is similar in some areas outside the EU. In Singapore, bitcoins are treated as products. Bitcoin investors will be fine there, because cryptocurrency is treated as capital gains for investment purposes. This means that if Singapore residents buy and hold bitcoin for an extended period, it’s tax-free, because there is no capital gains tax in Singapore.
The story is different for merchants. Bitcoins are considered a means of barter when used to buy goods and services in Singapore, and therefore taxable. They’re also subject to general sales taxes when sold.
This creates the potential for a double or even a triple tax, officials have said. Companies could be taxed when buying bitcoins, when selling them, and potentially when using them as a form of payment.
What is cryptocurrency, anyway?
The ruling from the ECJ could help answer a more fundamental question about bitcoin that could help countries resolve multiple issues: what is cryptocurrency? Is it a legal currency? A financial service? A commodity?
“The answer to this question will be useful,” said Jones. “If it were goods, it would be a question that they wouldn’t need to refer to the ECJ. If it was legal tender, it wouldn’t either. The problem is that virtual currencies sit in this nether world.”
Other taxes
While there might be an opportunity to harmonize some aspects of VAT on cryptocurrency in Europe, it will be far more difficult to achieve a single approach to other taxes, such as personal and corporate income tax and capital gains. These tax regimes are decided mostly at a national level.
Broadly speaking, income taxes are calculated on any income regardless of a country’s particular rules about bitcoin, argue experts.
“It is pretty clear that any transaction that otherwise gives rise to income taxes, is still taxable, regardless of the fact that it is settled in bitcoin,” said Omri Marian, an assistant professor of law at the University of Florida who wrote a paper on the use of cryptocurrencies as tax havens.
However, the details of some tax applications will differ depending on how the country treats cryptocurrency.
Jones said:
“There are some countries where how it’s classified has a bearing on the tax. So perhaps capital gains on real estate but not other assets. Or if it’s a certain type of asset it may only be subject to capital gains if it’s held for under a year.”
Other regions
In the US, the federal government doesn’t impose VAT on anything, although national sales taxes are imposed on certain goods and services.
However, at the federal level, the IRS made a March ruling categorizing bitcoin as property. For investors, this means that capital gains tax is due for investors selling bitcoin before a year is out. Exchanges may not pay VAT, but when they sell digital currency to a customer, the gross income equals the value for which the currency is sold, say lawyers.
But at a state level, things are less defined. States have generally been slow to issue official guidance on bitcoin and taxes, according to Marian.
He finds two reasons for the lack of state tax regulation of cryptocurrencies:
“First, states seem more concerned about bitcoin when it comes to consumer finance and investor protection issues.”
He argued that it isn’t yet a major source of tax revenues and doubted where state taxes need much clarification.
“If a transaction is subject to sales tax, for example, it is because the nature of the transaction, not because of the nature of bitcoin. Sales tax will apply to a sale in most states regardless if one is being paid with USD or bitcoin.”
In Canada, not much has changed from a tax perspective since the country’s tax authority released guidance on the status of cryptocurrency in November. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) still taxes bitcoin as bartered items from a tax perspective, although in a separate document, it warns that profits from commodity transactions could be taxed as income.
We also know of several non-EU countries that have not issued explicit rules for taxing bitcoin presently, but which are considering the issue. Israel is mulling it over; Australia is behind on tax guidance that it has already promised.
Ultimately, some trading blocks may eventually establish uniform rules for some taxes as they relate to cryptocurrency, but Marian warned not to expect everyone in the world to sing from the same song sheet, on all tax issues.
“Harmonization is a lot to expect for in a world where different countries subject similar transactions to different tax regimes,” he said.
And of course, there’s the other important issue: collection. Marian pointed out:
“Difficulty still exists in the context of administration and collection, given the pseudo-anonymity. The more mainstream bitcoin becomes, the more it becomes a worry for tax evasion, and I think this is where we’re going to see much of the focus.”
Regimes may tax bitcoin all they want, he added. But first, they have to understand what it is. And then, they have to understand how to follow the money, commodity, financial instrument – or whatever they decide to call it.
source: http://www.coindesk.com/europe-inches-towards-decision-bitcoin-vat/
There are no less than seven different BlackCoin projects under development as of this writing.
Most of them were unknown even to me, although I am being kept in the loop. Time to get excited folks, here we go .
Up first is Project BlackVISA, which is basically a website plugin allowing merchants to accept BC payments via Paypal and/or CoinKite. These funds can be liquidated anywhere on the internet, making it a very interesting e-commerce plugin to say the least.
A Ruby Wallet for any Bitcoin-based cryptocurrency (in this case, BlackCoin) is in the works as well. In case you have no clue on what a Ruby Wallet is, you can find out more information about it by clicking this link.
Have you met BlackBit yet
Up next, we have project BlackNode, which is a decentralized public address resolver. Providing a node with a signed message will allow association between public Blackcoin addresses and easy to share addresses in the username@domain.com format.
As you can never have enough payment gateways for merchants, Project Onyx is adding one more option to the list. BlackCoin payments can be integrated easily by providing a powerful API , as well as open sourced plugins.
Project BlackMoon is a project we have talked about in the past. If you haven’t read our previous article about it yet, you can catch up here. I am personally very excited about this project, and will keep an eye out for any further updates or announcements.
Last but not least, BlackHalo/NightTrader is a project we have all heard about by now. In case you have no clue what I’m talking about , this is an anonymous decentralized exchange/trading platform with an encrypted messaging system.
source: http://www.cryptoarticles.com/crypto-news/a-look-at-seven-current-blackcoin-projects-under-development
The ShadowCoin developers never cease to amaze me when you check in on their progress over the past days.
Their Android wallet, called ShadowGo, has been released, and it is the first Android wallet to support mobile staking!
Even though there are currently several altcoins working on releasing an Android wallet which supports mobile staking, ShadowCoin beat them to the punch. ShadowGo might not show up yet in the Google Play Store, but you can download the APK here.
However, mobile staking is not the only interesting feature about ShadowGo, as you can also use both encrypted messaging and stealth transfers! All the regular ShadowCoin client functionalities are at your disposal, wherever you go.
But that is not all the ShadowCoin news which was released earlier today. Lite wallet mode and iOS support are still high on the priority list as well. Lite wallet mode is a feature which will be available to both desktop and mobile wallets, and will no longer require users to download the entire blockchain. All features will still be supported though, so no need to worry about that.
The ShadowCoin iOS wallet is expected to be released at some point next week , which will also include mobile staking. We will keep an eye out for when the iOS wallet is released, and keep our readers informed accordingly.
Last but not least, ShadowCoin will be rebranded. As a reslt we will see a new wallet UI for both desktop and mobile wallets, as well as an updated website. More information will be announced over the coming days.
source: http://www.cryptoarticles.com/crypto-news/shadowcoin-releases-first-android-wallet-with-working-mobile-staking
A lot of us have been anxiously waiting for it, and it is finally here : The VooitCoin anonymous exchange has been completed.
An asterisk has to be made however, as you can not yet trade on the exchange, as a few decisions still have to be made.
Which decisions, you might ask? Quite a few important ones actually. For example : who will run the VootCoin anonymous exchange on a day-to-day basis? Will it be the SMOKE developers who created the platform, or the VootCoin team?
Another vital piece of the puzzle is finding people who want to be the first ones depositing funds to this exchange. As these people will be the first ones to generate volume, it is important to find people with some liquidity (aka a fair amount of funds).
As of this writing, there is no official website address for the VootCoin anonymous exchange. You can access the exchange through an Onion link though, assuming you use Tor.
source: http://www.cryptoarticles.com/crypto-news/vootcoin-anonymous-exchange-is-ready-of-sorts
A lot of people are wondering what is happening over at VeriCoin, as there have not been any major announcement for the past two weeks.
That doesn’t mean no work is being done though, so let’s take a look at what is happening.
Ever since the new VeriCoin website launched, as well as the VeriCoin News website, it has become a lot easier to keep track of which features are being worked on at the moment. Then again, if you don’t know where to look exactly, it might be hard to find out about the current progress.
You might want to bookmark this page , which gives you an approximate level of completeness regarding current VeriCoin developments. Do keep in mind these are all estimates, and a hard time table cannot be determined by looking at the numbers.
Some of the VRC features currently in development include a new wallet UI, the iOS VeriCoin wallet, improved fiat purchasing wallet integration, VeriBank, and many more things. Some very/Veri interesting things are on the horizon for the VeriCoin community, that’s for sure.
source: http://www.cryptoarticles.com/crypto-news/vericoin-development-roadmap-includes-veri-interesting-features
The following is an interview with KeyCoinDev, the lead developer and project manager for KeyCoin.
Market Cap: $400,000 (at time of writing)
Maximum coins issued: ~1,000,000 (The POW mining period was limited and has now ended, we did this to eliminate the ominous presence of multipool dumps allowing our coin to grow in value.
Hash algorithm: X13
PoW or PoS: PoW to block 4500 then PoS with 20% year interest.
Exchanges:Crytpsy & Bittrex
Block explorer:CryptoID
Launch date: July 15, 2014, 11:27:30 AM PST
What is the coin’s purpose?
As the importance of information and communication establishes more and more in our everyday life, another phenomenon emerges: the surveillance society. Keycoin is on the cutting edge on anonymity technology and endeavors to protect its users.
What problem does it solve?
The surveillance society can be understood as the attempt of the dominant of this world to consolidate power and privileges by controlling human communication. It is obvious that this Orwellian everyday life that has been formed is a significant and constant threat for everyone and especially for those who envision and fight for a free society. The movements for liberation, as the focal pieces of society, are targeted by continued oversight, [the] fact that obligates us to find ways and means to overcome it.
What we have accomplished:
An extremely fair launch with a diverse and powerful hash rate within moments of release. No premine, No instamine and No IPO [were employed].
A dedicated dev comprised of over 20 team members and growing; a team [who] frequently posts and answers questions 24/7 on [BitCoinTalk].
Slow and steady growth on the exchanges to allow for fairness in the distribution of the coin. ( we didn’t buy up our coin to accumulate for pump purposes, we want to give the keys to the world, and buy and sell with the traders)
Public demonstrations of our anon system in which blocks of 20 key were given to all those who were willing to participate.
A powerful and unique anon system that keeps your transactions secure using advanced encryption techniques, and randomized nodes that make it impossible even for the sender to [trace] the transaction through the block chain.
Who are the developers?
The KeyCoin team is comprised of [four] core members and has [an] extensive support staff who are dedicated to providing the best products and services available.
Member 1 Full time C++ programmer, skilled with QT and cryptocurrency development
Member 2 Python, Ruby, and PHP programmer, with a focus on web application development and API integrations
Member 3 Well rounded, full-time graphic designer specializing in usability and interface development
Member 4 Community relations and PR manager, will be maintaining our website, twitter, other social media, and press releases
The team is dedicated to making KeyCoin both functional and easy to use. We will continue to improve functionality and add innovative features to ensure that KeyCoin stays on the cutting-edge of cryptocurrency technology.
In fact, we have a team so strong and that it even gained the endorsement of a prominent and well-respected developer in the community that has a currency of his own.
The review of our code and anonymity solution by Dan Metcalf can be read here.
Keycoin dev team posts all updates and news in our bitcointalk thread. We are open to all community feedback and suggestions.
What are the coin’s future endeavors and how do they plan on achieving those goals?
Our immediate goals are on releasing the following as soon as possible.
KeyOS
KeyOS is a customized TailsOS distribution for portable USB drives. It comes pre-loaded with a KeyCoin wallet, allowing you to easily and securely transport your funds and access them from any computer.
Physical drives will be available in the future, but [the] download of the bootable ISO file will be provided early for those who prefer not to wait.
We are not stopping there either; we are also actively developing the following:
Decentralized Anonymous System – 40% complete
Tor Integration – 65% complete
Trading Tools ( 100% complete beta – to be released soon)
Encrypted messaging – 90% complete
Is there anything else you’d like to say about your coin?
We will not stop innovating; we have many plans and features that we plan to introduce, and we will always welcome suggestions from the community. We invite the community to get in touch at:
Official Forum
Bitcoin Talk
IRC: KeyCoin_Official (Freenode)
Future Goals (in no particular order and not a complete list):
To maintain a level of progress, community outreach, and professionalism that proves our dedication to KEY, eventually gaining large scale adoption and trading across major exchanges.
Increased adoption by prominent figures in the industry.
To set the bar and change the alt-market for the better by keeping things consistent and of high quality. We believe that this will change the alt ecosystem for the better.
Release an anonymous USB key based os that comes free with integrated trading tools, and an introduction to trading kit complete with a trading plan template for your personal use.
Make improvements to our anonymous system as they are developed.
Remain connected and in constant communication with our community, and taking their input and turning it into a reality.
http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/news/keycoin-exclusive-interview-its-not-just-a-coin-its-also-an-operating-system/2014/08/09
