Today's News is Brought to You By
To receive daily news, research, analysis, education, and more directly to your inbox everyday for FREE, subscribe here.
<div style="color:#ffffff;font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-weight:bold;background-color:#60e1c1;padding-top:3px;padding-bottom:3px;padding-right:10px;padding-left:10px">REGULATION</div>
<p id="subjectLine" style="font-size:0px;color:#FFFFFF">EU ICO standards incoming</p>
<h2 style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:20px;color:#000000;margin-bottom:15px">EU Lawmakers Look to Set Standard for ICOs</h2>
<img alt="EU" id="image" src="https://www.seedbed.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/european-union.jpg" width="100%"><br/>
<h4 style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px">SETTING THE STANDARDS</h4>
<ul style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px;line-height:25px;padding-left:20px">
<li>Yesterday, members of the European Parliament discussed the approval of a proposal that would create standards for initial coin offerings (ICO)</li>
<li>Written by Ashley Fox, a member of the European Parliament, the proposal most glaringly calls for an 8 million euro cap on token sale proceeds</li>
<li>Further details in the proposal require that ICOs meet know-your-customer/anti-money laundering regulations</li>
</ul>
<h4 style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px">AWAY WITH THE GRAY</h4>
<ul style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px;line-height:25px;padding-left:20px">
<li>Regulators and innovators are becoming fed up with the legal gray area that currently surrounds cryptocurrencies</li>
<li>France Digitale managing director Nicolas Brien even went so far as to say "there is an emergency to act"</li>
</ul>
<p style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px;line-height:25px">Brien then explained the need for a legitimized industry:</p>
<p style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px;background-color:#8CEFD6;padding-top:6px;padding-bottom:6px;padding-left:12px;padding-right:12px;text-align:center;line-height:24px">
<i>"Having the certainty, but also having that legitimization, I actually welcome having a European-wide proposal because it gives people the certainty to know. I think we need to be clear whether this is a utility token or a transferable security, or how the regulator regime looks at that, but I think this can be done because an ICO is another form of crowdfunding. It's different, but it is a form of crowdfunding."</i>
</p>
<h4 style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px">FEARS OF FRAUD</h4>
<ul style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px;line-height:25px;padding-left:20px">
<li>Still, some regulators are hesitant to progress forward too quickly due to fears of fraud</li>
<li>Laura Royle of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) explained that there are significant risks associated with ICOs including lack of transparency and intense volatility</li>
<li>The FCA has been notoriously hesitant on cryptocurrencies as it estimates that between 25% to 81% of ICOs are fraudulent</li>
</ul>
<p style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px;line-height:25px">With no clear-cut path yet, all proposed changes must be submitted by September 11th when a new debate will take place.</p>
<hr style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:30px;color:#919090;background-color:#919090;height:1px;border:none">
<div style="color:#ffffff;font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-weight:bold;background-color:#60e1c1;padding-top:3px;padding-bottom:3px;padding-right:10px;padding-left:10px">MARKET</div>
<h2 style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:20px;color:#000000;margin-bottom:15px">Dutch Economist Warns Bear Market May not be Over</h2>
<h4 style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px">ONE MORE CORRECTION</h4>
<ul style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px;line-height:25px;padding-left:20px">
<li>Joost van der Burgt, a policy advisor at the Dutch National Bank, recently predicted that Bitcoin will face one more correction before finally reversing out of this bear market</li>
<li>Burgt uses Google search trends as evidence, saying that the search trend chart looks similar to May of last year</li>
</ul>
<p style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px;line-height:25px">The economist explained his reasoning, saying:</p>
<p style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px;background-color:#8CEFD6;padding-top:6px;padding-bottom:6px;padding-left:12px;padding-right:12px;text-align:center;line-height:24px">
<i>“Every time bitcoin was in the news, be it positive or negative, the price went up accordingly. My take on it is that because of the introduction of futures, that might have deflated the bubble before it got to a level where it might burst completely.”</i>
</p>
<img width="90%" src="https://248qms3nhmvl15d4ne1i4pxl-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/105424889-1535640437065test2.jpg" alt="Ethereum-top-contracts-1024x376.png"><br/>
<h4 style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px">IS BTC CORRELATED TO TRENDS?</h4>
<ul style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px;line-height:25px;padding-left:20px">
<li>In reality, Burgt's prediction does not make much sense</li>
<li>Bitcoin has had very little to no correlation with search trends during the length of this calendar year</li>
<li>Burgt is betting that Bitcoin's price will converge back to its search popularity which has declined</li>
<li>Bitcoin seems to have detached from its search trends as now many more people are aware of what the cryptocurrency is and no longer need to search it</li>
</ul>
<hr style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:30px;color:#919090;background-color:#919090;height:1px;border:none">
<div style="color:#ffffff;font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-weight:bold;background-color:#60e1c1;padding-top:3px;padding-bottom:3px;padding-right:10px;padding-left:10px">NEWS</div>
<h2 style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:20px;color:#000000;margin-bottom:15px">NEO Supposedly Outbid Tron for BitTorrent but its Offer Wasn't Chosen</h2>
<h4 style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px">SALE OF BITTORRENT</h4>
<ul style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px;line-height:25px;padding-left:20px">
<li>In July of this year, Justin Sun and Tron acquired BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer file sharing software</li>
<li>With more than 100 million users worldwide, the acquisition of BitTorrent made Tron the world's largest decentralized internet ecosystem</li>
<li>It was reported that Sun's offer accepted by BitTorrent was around $120 million</li>
</ul>
<h4 style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px">NEO BID</h4>
<ul style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px;line-height:25px;padding-left:20px">
<li>It has just been revealed that Tron wasn't the only crypto bidding for BitTorrent, so too was NEO</li>
<li>Surprisingly, NEO actually had a much higher offer than Tron at $170 million compared to the accepted $120 million offer</li>
<li>It seems the reason BitTorrent chose the smaller offer was that they didn't think that the NEO deal could be closed in a timely manner, making the Tron offer more appealing</li>
</ul>
<h4 style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px">WHAT DO CRYPTOS WANT WITH BITTORRENT?</h4>
<ul style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px;line-height:25px;padding-left:20px">
<li>BitTorrent marks the first acquisition of a non-crypto company by a cryptocurrency company</li>
<li>The company is a perfect fit for cryptocurrency as its software aligns almost identically to what crypto companies are developing</li>
<li>Its biggest asset is its already established user base which boasts over 170 million users</li>
</ul>
<hr style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:30px;color:#919090;background-color:#919090;height:1px;border:none">
<div style="color:#ffffff;font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-weight:bold;background-color:#60e1c1;padding-top:3px;padding-bottom:3px;padding-right:10px;padding-left:10px">EXCHANGE</div>
<h2 style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:20px;color:#000000;margin-bottom:15px">ShapeShift Crypto Exchange to Eventually Require Membership</h2>
<h4 style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px">NEW REWARDS PROGRAM</h4>
<ul style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px;line-height:25px;padding-left:20px">
<li>ShapeShift, notoriously known as the crypto exchange without accounts, is now offering a member rewards program</li>
<li>The new program includes benefits such as discounts on exchange rates, higher transaction limits, and volume based rewards in FOX, ShapeShift's native token</li>
<li>Further, ShapeShift Membership is broken down into five different levels with <a href="https://auth.shapeshift.io/signup">Level 1</a> being available to everyone right now and Levels 2-5 being available later on</li>
</ul>
<h4 style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px">MAKING IT MANDATORY</h4>
<ul style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px;line-height:25px;padding-left:20px">
<li>According to their <a href="https://info.shapeshift.io/blog/2018/09/04/introducing-shapeshift-membership/">blog post</a> about the matter, membership on the crypto exchange will become mandatory soon</li>
<li>This is a surprising move since one of ShapeShift's main selling points is the ability to transact without an account</li>
<li>The decision to make membership mandatory stems from the stringent regulatory environment and will attempt to "reduce friction and protect customers"</li>
</ul>
<p style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px;line-height:25px">In closing, ShapeShift reassured its community it is still committed to privacy even though it now plans on collecting account information:</p>
<p style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px;background-color:#8CEFD6;padding-top:6px;padding-bottom:6px;padding-left:12px;padding-right:12px;text-align:center;line-height:24px">
<i>"We would prefer if the collection of personal information was not a mandatory element. We still firmly believe that individuals, regardless of their race, religion, or nationality, deserve the right to financial privacy, just as they deserve the right to privacy in their thoughts, in their relationships, and in their communications. Such privacy is a foundational element of a civil and just society, and should be defended by all good people."</i>
</p>
<hr style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:30px;color:#919090;background-color:#919090;height:1px;border:none">
<div style="color:#ffffff;font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-weight:bold;background-color:#60e1c1;padding-top:3px;padding-bottom:3px;padding-right:10px;padding-left:10px">BITS</div>
<ul style="font-family:arial;font-size:15px;line-height:25px;padding-left:20px">
<li>Some are blaming the Silk Road after Bitcoin flash <a href="https://ambcrypto.com/bitcoin-btc-flash-drops-within-30-minutes-6900-silk-road/">dropped</a> $500 in 5 minutes and reached $6,900 on several exchanges.
<br>
<br>
</li>
<li>Mobile trading app Robinhood is <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/robinhood-crypto-app-adds-candlestick-charts-due-to-popular-demand/">rolling out</a> candlestick charts to "better inform" its users.<br>
<br>
</li>
<li>The MEGA Chrome extension version 3.39.4 was <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/mega-chrome-extension-compromised-to-steal-users-monero">compromised</a> and could steal user’s Monero in addition to other sensitive information.</li>
</ul>
<br /><center><hr/><em>Posted from my blog with <a href='https://wordpress.org/plugins/steempress/'>SteemPress</a> : https://whalereports.com/unbankd-newsletter-09-05-2018-eu-ico-standards-incoming-2/ </em><hr/></center>
Coins mentioned in post: