Daily TL;DR - January 8th (Your One Stop Daily News)

DAILY TL;DR W/ CHESLINK
JANUARY 8th - 12th
January 8th

1. BTC/BCH NEWS
2. IN OTHER NEWS

MARKETCAP ANALYSIS

Recap from 11/20
Market Cap: $243,311,416,536
24h Vol: $7,403,167,283
BTC Dominance: 56.2%

As of 12/11
Market Cap: $462,879,608,891
24h Vol: $25,098,117,991
BTC Dominance: 61.7%

As of 12/31
Market Cap: $592,941,301,681
24h Vol: $33,207,433,786
BTC Dominance: 38.0%

As of 1/2
Market Cap: $689,345,508,374
24h Vol: $41,942,917,374
BTC Dominance: 37.1%

As of 1/8
(apparently CoinMarketCap took off Korean exchanges, because of the premium and this caused a slight market dip as people thought prices were tanking)
Market Cap: $743,509,110,252
24h Vol: $49,897,768,988
BTC Dominance: 34.2%

BTC/BCH NEWS
Governments vs Bitcoin
• http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2018/1/8/economics-profs-bitcoin/

“It [government] could let cryptocurrencies peacefully exist, and not accept them as a means of payment, and that’s what I think it should do,” Miron said. “But my guess is that sooner or later governments are going to regulate cryptocurrencies out of existence.”

Even if governments do not regulate bitcoin out of existence, Rogoff said he thinks the currency—as well as its competitors like Ethereum, Ripple, and Monero—will eventually fall in value thanks to government interference.
“What the private sector innovates, the state eventually regulates and appropriates,” Rogoff said. He predicted that, ultimately, central banks will create their own currencies and “use regulation to tilt the playing field until they win.”

Bitcoin ETFs
• https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/08/new-insane-etf-proposal-for-bitcoin-generates-worry-on-wall-street.html

A regulatory application from Direxion Asset Management seeks approval for five new funds — one that seeks straight-up correlation with the cryptocurrency, but four others designed to amplify price movements either up or down.
But the effort by Direxion to bring them into the shadowy world of digital currency is raising some concern on Wall Street. The firm filed its application with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Jan. 4, starting a process that those familiar with it say could take six to nine months. "That would be insane for them to actually approve this. Then they're putting a rubber stamp on it as an asset, and I don't think governments want to go there yet," said Michael Cohn, chief investment strategist at Atlantis Asset Management. "It just seems as though it's not something I'd want to put my clients into in any way, shape or form. You can only be embarrassed."

Bitcoin Mining in China… done?
• https://qz.com/1174091/china-wants-an-orderly-exit-from-bitcoin-mining/
The country’s top internet-finance regulator, the Leading Group of Internet Financial Risks Remediation, issued a notice asking local governments to “guide” bitcoin-mining operations to make an “orderly exit” from the business, according to a leaked document online. Citing government sources, Bloomberg and Reuters earlier reported that China is planning to limit electricity supply to bitcoin miners.

The document, issued to local offices of the internet-finance regulator, asks local authorities to use measures linked to electricity price, land use, tax, and environmental protection, among other things, to guide bitcoin miners to quit the business. It also asks the local offices to report information about mining facilities in their regions, as well as the progress of the exits from mining by Jan. 10, and then on the tenth day of every month.

IN OTHER NEWS
TRONs Whitepaper is Copy/Paste
• https://mobile.twitter.com/juanbenet/status/950142785373405184

Exchanges Closed Registrations
• https://cointelegraph.com/news/binance-bitfinex-bittrex-temporarily-say-no-to-new-users

Bittrex is one of the first exchange platforms that put a halt on onboarding new users. Back in December 2017, an alert from this US-based exchange reads:

“We have received an enormous number of new account registrations over the past few weeks.”
In addition to Bittrex, two other platforms had to make a similar decision – Bitfinex and Binance. New signups to Bitfinex will be welcomed by a window stating that new account creation has been paused.

Binance has also had to halt registrations while undergoing an infrastructure update. While Bittrex and Binance have not given a timeline for reopening new account registrations, Bitfinex intends to allow signups starting January 15, 2018. Binance has now reopened their registrations.

Korean Crypto Exchanges Being Inspected
• https://news.bitcoin.com/korean-government-inspecting-banks-crypto-regulation-compliance/

The South Korean authorities will start inspecting major banks for their compliance with cryptocurrency regulations on Monday. This move follows the regulators’ recent announcement prohibiting the use of virtual bank accounts for anonymous trading.

The inspection will take place between January 8 and 11. Woori Bank, KB Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Bank, Nonghyup Bank, Korea Development Bank (KDB), and Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) will be inspected.

The government is developing a real-name identification system which is expected to be introduced around January 20.

Korean Tax Estimation
• https://coinpan.com/free/32143808

“The most noticeable part of the article, which was posted at around 1:00 am yesterday, was "You can apply transfer income tax at any time." From the 20th day when the real name of the transaction is applied, the method of taxation will become clear when the position of the TF is clarified.

The problem is when it is decided by transfer income tax. Korea is very generous with regard to capital gains tax, but it is taxed at a high rate on financial income, which is unearned income.

The following is based on the National Tax Service in January 2017.
12 million won or less: 6%
Less than 48 million won: 15%
8 million won or less: 24%
Less than 150 million won: 35%
Less than 500 million won: 38%
More than 500 million won: 40%

(In the overheated virtual money market, the 'transaction tax' is scarce, but in this case 0.3% taxation occurs.) It is recommended that those who have gained a high profit of N200 million must analyze profitability and respond accordingly. I expect that the probability of going to the transfer income tax is higher than the transaction tax in order to mitigate the speculative fever. It is unlikely that the government will set a trading limit per capita as a follow-up book.

Korean Govt. To Start Tax in Q1
• https://news.bitcoin.com/south-korea-tax-cryptocurrencies-current-law/

Specifically, “Under current law, corporate taxation is possible,” Edaily quoted him explaining. The publication noted that the tax plan is expected to be finalized within the next six months. News1 Korea added, “The part that can be taxed by the current law will be taxed in the first half of this year.”

He was quoted by Asia Today, “There are some areas where legislation is necessary, such as capital gains tax. We need to review whether it is appropriate to impose capital gains tax and legislate.”

At present, it is concluded that the taxation of income tax, corporation tax, transfer income tax, etc. is possible in the case of virtual currency, while taxation of virtual currency is difficult in terms of value-added tax.

Cryptopia?
Ver and Friends Trying to Build a Crypto Sovereign Nation
• https://www.freesociety.com/

Proximity to existing economic powerhouses (US, Europe, Asia)
Accessibility by water
Located in a safe, conflict-free area
Stable existing government
Nations with a significant national debt
A flexible constitution that allows granting sovereignty
Acceptable minimum size for the land

We plan to establish a rule of law based on libertarian principles and free markets. We don’t see the need to recreate traditional government structures. The rule of law / constitution can be included in the final agreement of the land sale, and will be an extension of the existing contract that will be put in place with the government that granted us the sovereignty. Enforcement will happen through private arbitration, competing court systems and private law enforcement. It is important to establish a proper rule of law, as our project will set an example for the industry and create an important precedent with governments and the world. We want to make sure the constitution is solid but avoid the inefficiencies of existing government structures.

Korean Legislator Comments
• http://www.sedaily.com/NewsView/1RUCKY805X

"We will review and implement all possible alternatives, including the closing of the virtual exchange office (exchange)," the Finance Ministry chairman said. "At the press conference held at the Seoul government building in Sejong-ro, Seoul, Choi said," Nobody knows exactly what is happening in the virtual call center when there is virtually no direct regulatory system for virtual call centers. "He said. First, the financial authorities are going to crack down on virtual currency trading centered on banks. Choi said, "Virtual currency transactions are likely to be used for money laundering such as theft and illegal fund concealment due to anonymity and non-face-to-face," he said. "We should actively act as gatekeepers to prevent the distribution of crime and illegal funds. I do not know what to do.

What is Crypto Really Worth?
• https://www.coindesk.com/2018s-challenge-crypto-assets-really-worth/

After the speculative dust settles, crypto assets need to justify their valuation. The value that accrues to a token, however, isn’t trivial to identify or define. It is possible to create an immensely successful platform or protocol enabled by a token, where the value accrues to the users instead of the token holders.

One such example is the "utility token," which we're beginning to understand could support a huge economy with only a very small monetary base, if the velocity of money is high. In this way, entrepreneurs designing the next generation of crypto protocols need to realize that the role of the token is not just in creating value but also distributing that value.
The token needs to do several things, and do them all right. It needs to incentivize the right economic behavior from the participants. It needs to enable the right modes of interaction among the stakeholders, including the users, investors and the development team. It needs to be able to build network effects and grow the ecosystem without hampering the incentives of existing stakeholders.

It needs to ensure that value is generated on the platform, and that value is distributed among the different stakeholders fairly in order to sustain the ecosystem for the long run.

SALT Loans Platform
• https://coinidol.com/salt-revolutionary-blockchain-backed-loans/

You will secure your loan with your BTC as collateral and you will get the exact amount of money of what the current price of BTC is. You can buy a car, a house or flight tickets to your dream destination and repay every month the money you have borrowed. After paying everything off, you will receive all your secured BTC back.

You can enjoy spending money whilst the BTC value grows and then you can find out that you are even richer than before. This alternative thanks to SALT could be a very good solution for everyone who needs money but does not want to sell their cryptocurrencies. Also, this is a great opportunity for investors who are looking for good long term investment. Loans are both denominated in and repaid with traditional currencies. Blockchain assets are only provided by borrowers for use as collateral to secure loans. A lender may elect to be repaid in blockchain assets.

Unlike a margin account on an exchange, SALT loan proceeds can be used to purchase anything, not just additional tokens. With SALT, your collateral is held in a distributed manner, reducing counterparty risk. Exchanges, on the other hand, are centralized and opaque, and holding large amounts of tokens within them is dangerous. SALT loan terms also offer borrowers greater customization and flexibility than exchange margin accounts.

Like-Kind Taxation in the US
• https://www.investopedia.com/news/how-new-tax-law-impacts-cryptocurrencies-trump/

According to three attorneys contacted by Investopedia, at least some cryptocurrency investors regard a sale of bitcoin for ether, for example, to be a like-kind exchange that is exempt from capital gains taxes. None of these attorneys, however, is convinced: taxpayers who treat crypto-for-crypto exchanges as like-kind are "taking the risk that if they got audited, the IRS would disagree," says Jeremy Naylor, a partner at Cooley LLP. Under the new law, he continues, "it's clear now that you can't do that." The exemption that section 1031 previously applied to "property of like kind" only applies to "real property of like kind" under the new law, meaning that cryptocurrencies definitely don't qualify.
Investors considering taking advantage of this break for the 2017 tax year should weigh the risks. Matthew Gertler, senior analyst and counsel at Digital Asset Research, says, "Like-kind exchanges were never a thing for crypto," adding, "most of the articles I have read supporting that like-kind exchanges apply were not written by attorneys or accountants." Trading one stock for another doesn't qualify for the break, he points out, nor does trading gold or silver, "so I want to hear why the trading of one cryptocurrency for the other constitutes the same kind of property."

Ethereum Back at #2 Spot
• https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-08/ether-surpasses-ripple-to-reclaim-second-spot-in-crypto-rankings

Ether has reclaimed the title of the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market value. Ripple had a short-lived stint after surging past the digital coin for the ethereum network 10 days ago, but has slipped in the rankings after falling more than 14 percent. The decline was initially spurred by an announcement last week that Coinbase Inc. wouldn’t list any new coins such as ripple on its online exchange.

Telegram’s TON ICO Trying to Raise a Ton
• https://bit.news/eng/telegram-messenger-will-launch-one-largest-ico-history/
The initial coin offering (ICO) of the Telegram messenger can become one of the largest in history: only in pre-sale, the team of project intend to raise about $500 million, and the subsequent stage of the campaign is to raise the capitalization of tokens to $3-5 billion.

QTUM’s New Partnership
• https://paymentweek.com/2018-1-5-qtum-partners-baofeng-become-bigger-bitcoin-ethereum/
Qtum, the blockchain application platform, has partnered with Baofeng, the Chinese video portal giant, to help achieve the world’s first Blockchain Consensus Network (BCN) and build the most decentralized blockchain node network.
Screenshots of what seems to be a chat portal have been posted and shared via Twitter which features Patrick Dai teasing his followers about the said partnership. As of writing, the said news will be disclosed in roughly less than 12 hours with another new partner.

It has just only been days after Qtum just closed a deal with Baofeng, a Chinese video portal giant.
With this partnership, Qtum will get to run 50,000 full network nodes to become the Blockchain with the biggest number of nodes. This would enable Qtum to compete with Bitcoin and Ethereum who only have 10,000 and 20,000 nodes respectfully.

“Baofeng Group operates the world’s largest P2P network, so we are impressed by the security and superior flexibility of the Qtum’s blockchain architecture, and we found that the current ecosystem of Qtum is rapidly developing. We are very happy to cooperate with one of the best blockchain technical teams in this field.”