Your Daily Crypto News on Steemit October 24, 2017

Jaxx & Coinbase: No Support for Bitcoin Gold!
Japanese Crypto Exchanges support Bitcoin Gold Hard Fork!
Kazakhstan announces its own Crypto Currency!
16 Month Prison Sentence for Bitcoin Exchange Operator!
Cash shortage drives Bitcoin in Zimbabwe almost to USD 10,000!
BITCOIN COURSE CHALLENGE Week 3!

The snapshot of the Bitcoin blockchain has already happened. All credit in the Bitcoin network is now mirrored and obtained with the same amount of Bitcoin Gold. In the meantime, some crypto companies have already spoken out and are prudent.

Information shortages

Wallet service provider Jaxx recently announced on his blog, there is no plans to support Bitcoin Gold. However, the Bitcoin Fork Bitcoin Cash (BCH), which happened at the beginning of August and has been running an alternative scaling solution since then and is currently being developed.

Jaxx explains his decision against Bitcoin Gold in a very sober and rational tone: Bitcoin Gold does not have a working codebase, no replay protection or any developer. The Code has not been tested and can be tested for security yet.

The 8,000 Bitcoin Gold blocks (100,000 BTG) are also in the hands of strangers with an unknown agenda. These properties at BTG can be judged as critical.

Coinbase

Coinbase also criticized the security of Bitcoin Gold. In Coinbase blog, it was stated that the security can not be guaranteed and thus there is currently no possibility to offer Bitcoin Gold reliably for the users. However, if the BTG blockchain is still proven to be safe, Coinbase can imagine passing the coins on to the users, until then the situation will be monitored.

In Japan, it looks different: the crypto exchange BitFlyer announced its support for Bitcoin Gold you can read about it in the article below.

Scammer

Here one can not mention frequently enough that it is important to keep calm. Hardware-Wallet developer Ledger therefore already issued a noteworthy warning:

Ledger points to scammers, who are currently using fake BTG wallets trying to get your seeds. From the Seeds can be derived private keys, with which your BTG and your other coins are in danger!

To make it clear again, wait a little while for an official wallet to be released.

The two leading Bitcoin exchanges in Japan have announced their plans to deal with the forthcoming Bitcoin Hard Fork tomorrow October 25th.

The largest crypto exchange in Japan, bitFlyer, has announced to support Bitcoin Gold. This means that the new crypto currency is credited to the user account and the possibility of trading is offered.

Before this happens bitflyer wants to ensure that sufficient security and stability are ensured. Therefore, the users will not have directly access to their Bitcoin Gold on October 25th. This is a perfectly understandable decision since the network is much too unstable after a hard fork and secure transaction processing can not be guaranteed.

The crypto exchange Coincheck also said how they would deal with Bitcoin Gold. Just like bitflyer, the crypto market emphasized that they would wait for a stable Hashpower and sufficient protection against replay attacks. If the results are insufficient, Coincheck could imagine not even listing Bitcoin Gold. Also, Coincheck did not specify whether to plan trade options for Bitcoin Gold accordingly, the uncertainty for Coincheck customers is accordingly great.

Basically in the case of Hard Forks, you should prefer to take your coins from a crypto exchange. Although the probability that everything runs smoothly, ie the new coins on the account are booked, is quite large, but there is no guarantee. You should always have the private key to have full access rights to your Bitcoin.

And another country that is jumping on the train: Now Kazakhstan has announced the launch of its own crypto currency.

As announced officially by the Astana International Finance Center (AIFC), an agreement was reached with the Maltese company Exante. The crypto exchange has confirmed this and announced that the STASIS platform, which is based on the blockchain technology, will serve as the basis for the planned currency.

The goal of the platform is to offer a basis that bridges the gap between crypto currencies and the traditional financial system. It should make it possible to create a marketplace where institutions, governments as well as individuals can engage in financial transactions.

According to the developers, STASIS should make it possible to counteract the volatility of crypto currencies by coupling to Fiat currencies. By linking to traditional currencies, stability is guaranteed, so the developers' hope. For example, the euro will be digitally replicated under the provisional name Stasis Euro Token. In order to support the development of the trading infrastructure, a limited number of tokens will initially be offered to the investment public. This is to ensure the exchange between the traditional financial system and the crypto currency market.

Kairat Kelimbetov, executive director of the Astana International Finance Center, stated that he hoped to make the AIFC the focus of international blockchain operations and the development of crypto currencies in the near future. Gregory Klumov, co-founder and CEO of Stasis, shares these views:

These "indisputable advantages" certainly also include the fact that the blockchain technology is based on decentralization. It is also a feature that makes it so attractive to many users because of its independence from the financial market. This is because the decentralized organizational form ensures that no middle men, Eg banks or companies are required to carry out transactions. For example, For example, no unnecessarily high transaction costs are levied. Another advantage associated with this is the fact that the blockchain legitimates itself, there is no need for authorities or states to regulate financial transactions. Thus the attempt to control the crypto currencies, such as the CryptoRubel, or, as in this case, to bind it to Fiat currencies and to become the "center" of a decentralized form of organization, can be regarded as questionable.

One of the operators of the former Bitcoin exchange Coin.mx was sentenced to sixteen months' imprisonment.

According to Reuters, the software developer Yuri Lebedev was guilty of having operated a Bitcoin exchange without a license. He received his verdict from American district judge Alison Nathan. He had to wait two years after his arrest on his suspicion of violating the law for money laundering.

In addition to Lebedev, Pastor Trevon Gross was also condemned. He was already found guilty for fraud in March. He had created a credit cooperative in New Jersey funds overseas.

According to the prosecutor, Lebedev Gross is said to have helped. The pastor is said to have received 150,000 dollars for his church. It is expected that major penalty will be released in October.

On Bloomberg it is said that Judge Nathan has explained that Lebedev has used his "impressing technical skills" to conceal the action of the crypto market. Lebensv's lawyer, Eric Creizman, described him as an "unlikely accused".

The Florida-based Bitcoin exchange Coin.mx was operated as a "Collectibles Club" to hide the activities as an exchange. The public prosecutor's office could also assign the crypto exchange to a larger cybercrime organization. The Coin.mx has also been used as a billing site for criminal activities such as JP Morgan Chase's hack.

In 2015 Anthony Murgio, as well a operator of the crypto exchange, was also arrested. He pleaded guilty a few months ago and received a prison sentence of five and a half years in June.

In view of the gloomy economic situation in Zimbabwe, Bitcoin is booming there, reports TheNational.ae. On the Golix.io trading platform, a bitcoin is already traded at a price of almost $ 10,000, while for the moment Bitcoin is traded worldwide at around $ 5,400.

Bitcoins are not only bought by individuals, according to a trader in Zimbabwe, but also by companies that have to pay bills. The country introduced the US dollar as a legal tender in 2009 after the Zimbabwean dollar had become virtually worthless.

At LocalBitcoins Zimbabwe, Bitcoin is sold at the world's average price; in the state capital, on the other hand, some buyers pay far more than $ 10,000. Bitcoin, as every Bitcoin owner expects, helps the people of the country survive in times of economic uncertainty, because Zimbabwe has been in a constant crisis for years.

Why is Bitcoin so valuable in Zimbabwe?

In the early 2000s, Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, urged his countrymen to occupy farms, mostly descendants of British citizens. When this led to the breakdown of the country's agriculture, the Zimbabwe reserve bank went out of the money.

In the mid-2000s, the bank decided to print Zimbabwe dollars to pay the salaries of the army, officials and the police. This caused a surprisingly hyperinflation. During this time it was possible to get started in the morning to buy bread just to find in the bakery that the price had already tripled the day before - if there was any bread.

In the fight against hyperinflation, Mugabe launched the Zimbabwe dollar in 2009 as a means of payment and introduced the US dollar. The measure reached: prices stabilized. However, since the Zimbabwe Reserve Bank can not print US dollars, they must be imported. In an interview with a local newspaper, the governor of the Reserve Bank, John Mangudya, stated:

In the course of the threat of nationalization, the export economy collapsed. According to Bloomberg, the banks today ration US dollars. Some institutions pay a maximum of $ 20 per peron, no matter how much the customer's bank balances are. One hears again and again that people even sleep in front of the bank, so they are there early enough to get some of the coveted dollars. In the face of the dollar shortage, the central bank issued so-called bond notes, which are said to have the same value as the US dollar. However, only a few trust the cause, especially since foreign suppliers do not accept the bond notes or some companies only accept them with a 50% mark-up.

The problem in Zimbabwe today is not the lack of goods that one could buy, but the lack of money to pay them - so the exact opposite of the situation at the beginning of the crisis: "Previously there was a lot Money in circulation and there was nothing to buy. Today there are goods, but no money to pay them. "

As a way out of the crisis, the Zimbabweans now turn to a currency they can rely on, unlike Fiat money: Bitcoin.