Your Daily Crypto News on Steemit October 1, 2017

• Edward Snowden considers Zcash to be the most interesting Bitcoin Alternative!
• DJ Khaled promoting for ICO on Instagram!
• IMF: Lagarde emphasizes the Advantages of Crypto Currencies!
• Russia: Discrepancies for Crypto Regulation!

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Whistleblower Edward Snowden uses verbal coding for the crypto currency Zcash and calls it "the most interesting alternative" to Bitcoin.

First, expert Mason Borda tweeted: "Zcash is the only Altcoin (I know) developed and created by professional and academic cryptographers". Then Snowden wrote: "That's right."

Snowden added:

Snowden is primarily known for its revelations about the extent of the worldwide surveillance and espionage practices of intelligence services, the so-called NSA affair. As a defender of data protection, he also criticized the private currency Monero. Due to the problems of traceability, he described the currency as an "amateur crypto".

He also explained that such flaws exposed other whistleblowers to great dangers. He said, "Mistakes happen and have great consequences for people like me."

His statements continue to pour oil into the fire of contention between the competing crypto currencies. On Twitter this triggered a wave of further tweets. Richard Spagni, developer Moneros, defended the technology of his project. Charlie Lee, founder of Litecoin, also interfered and wrote, "I own Monero, but no Zcash."

Both currencies want to protect the privacy of users. They use various technical means to achieve similar results.

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Music producer DJ Khaled joins the group of celebrities, who advertise on social media for Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs).

In a photo the star had posted on Instagram a few days ago, DJ Khaled can be seen with the Crypto currency debit card Centra and a bottle of alcohol. Under the image, the company's Centra card and wallet are described in more detail and referred to as the "ultimate winner" of the token cards.

Centra has just started selling its CTR tokens. According to the company, a total of around 100 million are to be produced and sold.

Also boxing champ Floyd Mayweather had the startup and the debit card advertised in a similar post in his Instagram feed. Mayweather was also involved in other advertising campaigns, such as the CryptoMedia Group. CryptoMedia, the marketing company, is trying to make crypto currencies worthwhile by prominent advertising media.

In the recent past, a large number of celebrities have opted for the advertising of ICOs and tokens on social media.

For example, also rapper The Game, actor Jamie Foxx and Paris Hilton had published similar posts last month.

Bitcoin expert Andreas Antonopoulos talked with CNBC about this trend and described it as an "ICO highlight". Nevertheless, he criticized investors, who participate in ICOs due to advertising.

Andreas Antonopoulos said:

The sale of tokens based on the blockchain is normally operated to finance a company or a project. The model is quite popular and therefore the number of ICOs has increased strongly in the past months.

As a result of the Coindesk's ICO tracker data, this financing method alone took around US $ 517 million in September alone.

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The Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, stressed at a conference in London that it would be wrong to ignore crypto currencies.

At the same time, Lagarde pointed out the chances that crypto currencies could offer against Fiat currencies. Crypto currencies can be put to good use, particularly in countries with weak institutions and a weak currency, says Lagarde. In this context, dollar dependency could also be reduced for many countries as "dollarization 2.0" could create new, virtual alternatives to the US dollar or else to other national currencies.

Although not directly addressed by Lagarde, the country of Venezuela, of course, is currently experiencing an enormous boom in crypto currencies. This boom is, however, necessary, as Bolivar's currency has virtually no value and purchasing power, and crypto currencies are easier to obtain against the US dollar. From this macroeconomic weakness, therefore, a "crypto-economy" emerges, as Lagarde has pointed out in her speech.

However, their ease of use is crucial for the adaptation of crypto currencies. By means of an increasingly simple and secure handling, a mainstream adapter can be advanced. According to Lagarde, the decision on the future of the crypto market is also more stable and less volatile, in order to convince the people of crypto currencies.

Lagarde also sees a positive side effect of crypto currencies in that crypto currencies can increase the pressure on central banks. Finally, crypto currencies can bypass the bank monopoly and represent an alternative. The worse the central bank policy, the greater the risk that people will turn to the crypto currencies more. This new competition has made it even more important for central banks to implement an efficient and credible central bank policy.

With all the optimism, Lagarde also acknowledged that crypto currencies still have a long way to go because they are "currently still too volatile, risky, energy-intensive and too scalable."

Overall, however, it can be said that the IMF, at least represented by Lagarde, refers to a bullish-neutral to positive position on crypto currencies.

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Deputy Finance Minister of Russia said on Tuesday that the competent authority had initially decided against the introduction of crypto regulation. The reason for this would be the inconsistencies in the discussions on the draft law. These statements are in sharp contrast to the chairman of the Financial Markets Committee. The latter had only declared on Monday that a regulation could become final in October.

Crypto regulation is postponed

According to a meeting of the National Council on Financial Stability, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseyev on Tuesday said that Bitcoin and other crypto currencies are not legally recognized. "Bitcoin settlements are not legalized in Russia," he told Tass.

Ria Novosti further stated:

The Deputy Finance Minister also pointed out that regulations for crypto currencies differ from country to country. There is no clear trend. While some countries have decided to ban crypto currencies, others are ready to join and develop Bitcoin with the local currency. According to him, this issue is to be discussed again at the next meeting of the National Council on Financial Stability on 6 October

"We decided to look around and think about the best deal," he explained.

During the last session of the National Council on Financial Stability, the representatives came to no unanimous conclusion. Therefore, the Ministry of Finance, the Federal Service for Financial Monitoring (Rosfinmonitoring) and the country's central bank, promised to work on their dealings with crypto currencies next year.

Discussions last

Just one day before Moiseyev's statement, the chairman of the financial markets committee, Anatoly Aksakov, had said that a draft law on the regulation of crypto currencies could be presented in October.

In an interview with Tass, he was quoted as follows: "When will the law be finished? I think it will be prepared in October so that we can then examine it and make it vigorous. "Aksakov also said that this had been done in cooperation with the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and the Treasury.

On Tuesday, Aksakov spoke again with the Tass and rowed back: "I think that during this consultation we will decide what we will do."

He also said:

At the beginning of September, the Minister of Finance, Anton Siluanov, declared that his ministry would be working on a bill to regulate crypto currencies. He said that this year could become legally binding. In the past, the central bank had opposed the recognition of Bitcoin as an official payment method. The chief of the central bank, Elvira Nabiullina, cited as the reason the lack of control for payments from abroad.

This is not the first time that the draft law has been postponed. Already in August, the legislature had announced that due to a lack of agreement, a shift in regulation for crypto currencies would occur.

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