A former Federal Reserve employee was sentenced to 12 months’ probation and issued a $5,000 fine for installing unauthorized bitcoin software on a Fed server, a government watchdog said Monday.Nicholas Berthaume, who worked as a network systems communications analyst at the Fed board in Washington, installed the software so he could connect to an online bitcoin network to earn bitcoins, the Fed’s inspector general said.The... Most Popular Videos Film Clip: 'The Big Sick' A New Road to Income: Barron's Buzz 'Bridge Crew': Voice Command Comes to 'Star Trek' VR Videogame Lower Your Wireless Bill With These Tips Opinion Journal: Macron vs.The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has confirmed it will launch a formal investigation on the country’s biggest banks for abruptly closing accounts of bitcoin companies and traders, reported the ABC.Queensland Nationals Senator Matthew Canavan, who sent a letter to the chairman of the ACC to warn the authority about these practices, said he believes there had been a coordinated attack on the digital currency industry.“It appears to me to be an amazing coincidence that a number of large banks have all of a sudden decided to deny services to fledgling Bitcoin and digital currency operators,” Canavan said.“They are clearly competitors to their business model, albeit small ones at this stage, and there are clear laws that we’ve got against businesses refusing to supply other businesses if they do so for an anti-competitive purpose.“I think the ACCC should be asking the banks some serious questions about why they’ve done this and on what legal grounds they believe that they should not be providing services to Bitcoin operators.”Labor Senator Sam Dastyari said he backs the call for investigation on the banks, adding that Australia’s financial institutions were abusing the protection granted by the Government by refusing to provide banking services to bitcoin traders and operators.Dastyari said:“You have an APRA arrangement that affectively means they’re too big to fail.

You have up to $750 billion worth of their deposits being guaranteed – all of this provided by the Australian people as an implicit subsidy, that implicit subsidy doesn’t exist so that they can behave in a way that stifles and stops growing industries in this country.”The ACCC’s investigation comes shortly after several bitcoin traders in Australia said they have been systematically discriminated against by some of Australia’s largest banks, including the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ and the National Australia Bank.Michaela Juric, a bitcoin trader also known as the “Bitcoin Babe,” told the ABC:“I’ve been blacklisted from Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, Westpac, St George, Bank of Melbourne, Bank SA, Bank of Queensland, Rams and BT Superfund.I can’t open or hold any accounts with those institutions because I deal with bitcoin.”Another bitcoin trader, Daniel Wilczynski, said he is now out of business as both his personal and business accounts had been closed.

He said:“Everything was going well, but my first bank closure was by NAB and then I had ANZ close, and then Westpac and then about two months ago the Commonwealth Bank closed my bank accounts.”According to the Australian Financial Review, at least 17 Australian bitcoin companies, including Bit Trade and Buyabitcoin, have received letters from major banks such as Westpac and Commonwealth Bank, informing them their accounts will be closed without further explanation.Ron Tucker, chairman of The Australian Digital Currency Commerce Association, said that banks refused to explain why these accounts were being closed or even discuss what could be done to resolve the issue.ethereum secRegulatory action for blockchain technology at this ‘early stage’ is ‘premature’, said the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) in a report today.unternehmen die bitcoin akzeptieren

Furthermore, the ESMA deems it “unlikely” that blockchain technology would eliminate financial market infrastructures such Central Securities Depositories (CSDs) and Central Counterparties (CCPs).morgan bitcoin patentThe ESMA, Europe’s chief securities watchdog and regulator, has stated in a new report that the current regulatory framework in effect does not pose a hurdle for the adoption and development of blockchain or distributed ledger technology in the short term.ethereum studio onlineThe authority began looking into the topic of the innovation in early 2013 after bitcoin, the most well-known and application of blockchain technology, came into the mainstream consciousness as a payment offering.kurs bitcoin litecoinIt wasn’t long before Paris-based ESMA helped in the setting up of a “task force” to further study distributed ledger technology.bitcoin doviz

This task force also saw participation from the European Central Bank and the European Commission.bitcoin cotizacion hoyToday, the EU securities regulator published a report following a public consultation.bitcoin miner geeksThe report acknowledges the benefits of adopting blockchain before notably adding that blockchain applications are still at a nascent stage and, as such, do not require regulation.modify bitcoin sourceExpanding further, an excerpt from the report [PDF], reads: At this stage, ESMA believes that it is premature to fully appreciate the changes that the technology could bring and the regulatory response that may be needed, given that the technology is still evolving and practical applications are limited both in number and scope.sell bitcoin for moneypak

Unlike some Fintech-forward initiatives around the world – notable examples include the likes of Switzerland and Indonesia where blockchain development is encouraged with relaxed rules – the ESMA adds that the presence of blockchain technology “does not liberate users from complying with the existing regulatory framework, which provides important safeguards for the well-functioning of financial markets.” Curiously, the ESMA also states that it does not see blockchain technology, through its fundamental core concept of decentralization, post a threat to central financial market infrastructures.litecoin to plnA summary from the report states: ESMA sees as unlikely for DLT to eliminate the need for financial market infrastructures, such as Central Counterparties (‘CCPs’) and Central Securities Depositories (‘CSDs’).bitcoin forex factory

Still, the watchdog says it “realizes” that blockchain technology may render some traditional processes redundant, or affect and “change the role of some intermediaries through time” The ESMA adds that it will continue to monitor developments in the Fintech space, to assess if blockchain technology requires a regulatory response.litecoin buying and sellingAt a recent London conference, aptly titled “Blockchain Technology: The Future for Financial Services”, senior risk analysis officer at the ESMA Patrick Armstrong spoke about three different approaches that the watchdog could take when it comes to regulating the innovation.ethereum price target 2017The first, he revealed, was an outright ban on blockchain technology.faucet bitcoin wiki