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The stock of cryptocurrency investment firm, Ether Capital, has commenced trading on Toronto-based NEO Exchange. The listing comes days after the company completed its previously announced “reverse takeover transaction” that saw the company rebrand from Ethereum Capital.

Also Read: Mt Gox CEO Mark Karpeles Lands New Job — CTO for Cryptocurrency Firm

Ether Capital Shares Commence Trading on Canadian Stock Exchange

Ether Capital’s stock began trading on Toronto’s NEO Exchange on Thursday. As of this writing, the company’s ETHC shares are currently trading at approximately $2.45 USD.

The company’s chief information officer, Ben Roberts, has told reports that the company raised $45 million CAD – falling 10 percent short of the company’s expectations. Ether Capital had originally sought to issue 20 million shares priced at $2.50 each, however, was only able to sell 18 million shares. The private offer was co-directed by CIBC Capital Markets and Canaccord Genuity Corp.

Stock Listing Comprises “Critical Step” for Ether Capital

Mr. Roberts indicated that Ether Capital plans to convert approximately 90 percent of the raised funds into ETH tokens. Mr. Roberts did not disclose how many tokens had already been purchased with the newly raised capital. According to a January press release, Ether Capital indicated that it also plans on using a portion of the funds to obtain “controlling stakes in Ethereum-based businesses.”

Som Seif, the executive chairman and co-chief investment officer of the company, has stated that “The completion of this transaction and commencement of public trading represents a critical step in Ether Capital’s mission.” Mr. Seif added that the company is “excited to provide investors with the opportunity to invest in the first publicly listed company focused solely on the Ethereum ecosystem and to help drive industry-shifting disruptive technologies.”

Ether Capital Not Obstructed by Regulatory Hurdles During Formation

In contrast with the challenges encountered by many firms seeking to operate in the cryptocurrency industry, Mr. Roberts describes the process involved in setting up Ether Capital as having been relatively simple, stating “the first step was talking to the Ontario Securities Commission and getting their blessing, then talking to banks and getting them comfortable and setting up a custody solution to house the asset safely.”

Mr. Roberts indicated his expectation that it will ”take the market some time to really understand the value proposition” of Ether Capital. “The utility of that is two-fold, yes it gives people exposure in the marketplace and more importantly creating that pool of assets gives us space in the community and the ethereum platform. As we kind of scale that out we can have an opportunity to become something like ConsenSys, which is a large organized stakeholder in ethereum which can then use its platform to create value,” Mr. Roberts stated.

Do you think that the shares of other cryptocurrency investment firms that focus on markets other than BTC will also be traded on mainstream stock exchanges? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Ether Capital

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The Korean Customs Service has added cryptocurrency mining hardware to its list of items required to meet safety requirements in order to be imported into the country. The announcement comes following a $1.2 million USD seizure of mining hardware in recent months, prompting concerns over the potential for poorly manufactured hardware to increase fire risks across the country.

Also Read: Big Money Meets Secretly with Regulators to Protect Ethereum

South Korea Announces New Regulatory Apparatus Regarding Safety Requirements on Imported Goods

South Korea’s customs department has revised its customs clearance system, placing greater regulatory conditions on the importation of cryptocurrency mining hardware, in addition to other goods. Korea’s customs service recently announced the introduction a newly created 292 point clearance system for goods, resulting in the number of goods subjected to the clearance system to grow to 7,382.

Cryptocurrency mining hardware has been targeted under the new system, owing to a perception that poorly manufactured hardware may pose an increased risk of fire due to the large amounts of heat discharged during the mining process.

Korean authorities have pointed to 454 cryptocurrency mining rigs that were detected by the Korean Customs Service during late last year, which had an estimated value of 1.3 billion KRW (approximately $1.2 million USD) – describing as being illustrative of the scale of demand for mining hardware, in additional to the risk potential posed by mass distribution of unregulated machinery that emits significant heat.

Mining Mania Hits South Korea

South Korea was among the nations to be hardest hit by the frenzy surrounding virtual currencies in recent months. Desperate to cash in on the crypto boom by whatever means possible, some brazen miners have sought to access cheap electricity illegally to dig for crypto.

At the start of April, fourteen Koreans from thirteen different companies were caught illegally stealing using power from various industrial complexes in South Korea. Local reports have alleged that since May 2017, between 100 and 350 mining rigs have been operated at each of the accused companies for the purposes of cryptocurrency. By misrepresenting their mining activities as day-to-day business operations, the miners were able to access subsidized electricity at a 10% discounted price when compared to general use prices. The companies are expected to receive fines from Korean police.

Do you think that increased regulation in the cryptocurrency sphere is beneficial or detrimental to virtual currencies? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, customs.go.kr

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This is a paid press release, which contains forward looking statements, and should be treated as advertising or promotional material. Bitcoin.com does not endorse nor support this product/service. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the press release.

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The post PR: Final Opportunity to Participate in the MoneyToken Pre – Sale. Take Part Today in the Development of the Revolutionary Lending Platform appeared first on Bitcoin News.

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has struck down the ban imposed on the Bitcoininfo.ru portal. The outlet is one several dozens of crypto-related websites that have been taken offline by the Russian authorities in the past few years. The decision sets a precedent which and is likely to determine the faith of many other online editions. The ruling should also put an end to arbitrary decisions by Russian prosecutors and judges.

Also read: Russian Supreme Court to Decide the Fate of Bitcoin Sites

Setting a Precedent for All Crypto Outlets

Russia’s Supreme Court has effectively annulled a decision to ban access to the Bitcoininfo.ru website, once popular Russian portal containing crypto-related information and news. The ruling sets a precedent for more than 40 sites with similar content taken down by Russian authorities over the last several years.

The access to Bitcoininfo.ru was restricted in the summer of 2016. In July of that year, the Vyborgsky District Court in Saint Petersburg decided that the online edition violates the Law “On the Central Bank of the Russian Federation” by publishing materials about bitcoin.

The leading crypto was described as “electronic currency, which is a virtual means of payment and accumulation”. The information about it was deemed illegal and even “subversive” in regards to “the constitutional order, the authority of the Russian state, and the material welfare of its citizens.”

“There is only one monetary unit in Russia”, the district court said, when asked by the Prosecutor’s Office to ban the website. “Money surrogates”, the term often used by Russian officials when referring to cryptocurrencies, are illegal in the country. After the Supreme Court’s decision, the case will be returned to the City Court of Russia’s Northern Capital to be reviewed again, as reported by RBC.

Putting an End to Arbitrary Decisions

When Bitcoininfo.ru was banned two years ago, the defense tried to appeal the district court’s decision, citing procedural violations. Nikolai Tonkoshkurov, the owner of the website, had not been subpoenaed to attend the hearing. After the City Court of Saint Petersburg refused to accept the appeal, he referred the case to the Supreme Court in Moscow.

According to Tonkoshkurov’s lawyer, Sarkis Darbinyan, the court in Russia’s second largest city can now determine the future of all crypto-related online editions. However, he shared his disappointment that the Supreme Court has refrained from ruling on the status of cryptocurrencies in general.

“Nevertheless, we think this is a very important decision,” Darbinyan said noting the “systemic problem” with websites banned by prosecutors, who don’t even inform their owners about the restrictions. Тhis practice deprives entrepreneurs of proper legal protection, he added. Darbinyan also stressed that any such arbitrary decisions in the future should be considered invalid.

Do you think that courts should determine the status of cryptocurrencies even before relevant legislation is adopted? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

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When it comes to measuring the speed of new blockchains, the comparison is always with Visa. Despite not being a blockchain, the 24,000 transactions per second Visa reportedly handles have attained mythical status. That figure is unquestioningly trotted out whenever scaling is discussed. In reality, claims of Visa’s throughput, as well as those of emerging blockchains, have been greatly exaggerated.

Also read: The Bitcoin BCH Block Explorer Explodes With Blockchain Data

Visa, Scaling, and the 24k Hoax

Bitcoin was envisaged as a payments system and so it was natural, long before the store of value notion emerged, that comparisons would be made with existing global payment systems. Bitcoin’s early adopters knew that if the technology took off, some time in the future it would need to handle magnitudes more transactions per second than the 7 it could muster. Someone mentioned Visa with their magical 24k per second, and it’s stuck ever since.

Only that figure isn’t entirely accurate. In fact it’s not even remotely accurate. In reality, Visa processes around 1,700 transactions per second, a figure it rarely exceeds. The larger number is the one that Visa claims, and it’s the one that’s usually referenced in comparison to bitcoin and every other blockchain. In theory Visa should be able to handle that volume – in fact it’s been reported that its servers can handle as much as 56k tps – but that’s all theoretical, much like the claimed throughput of new blockchains that can operate at the speed of light in the lab, but significantly worse in the wild. There’s a big difference between operating a testnet on a bunch of Amazon servers and a mainnet distributed around the globe.

You Can’t Have Your Cake and Eat It

Speed and throughput come at the expense of decentralization, and the more you increase the former, the more of the latter you lose. Blockchains such as EOS and NEO are certainly faster than bitcoin, but they’re also highly centralized because they rely on a much lower number of validator nodes, among other things. There is nothing inherently wrong with having a fast but semi-centralized blockchain, but it is never going to become a global payment system with censorship-resistant properties that can rival bitcoin.

Even at 1,700 transactions per second, Visa is still significantly faster than bitcoin and most other blockchains, but this figure is at least a far more realistic one to reference and a more achievable one to aim for. Blockchain scaling can be implemented in a range of ways, from increasing the block size to layer two solutions (Lightning Network) to using techniques such as sharding, all of which carry various trade-offs. There is no reason why Bitcoin Core, Bitcoin Cash, and other blockchains cannot reach much higher speeds and levels of throughput without compromising on their decentralization, but this will take time and tech.

For now, any time a new blockchain starts making promises about “beating Visa’s 24,000 tps”, be sceptical and examine the fineprint. IOTA’s meant to be fast and scalable, but like a kid who’s terrified of removing the stabilizers from their bike, it still doesn’t function without its coordinator. Hashgraph is also meant to be fast, but it comes with threats to sue anyone who tries to fork it and any blockchain that can be sued isn’t a decentralized network. Come to think of it, it’s more like Visa.

Do you think the performance of new blockchains is typically overstated? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, and Twitter.

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