Tesla CEO Elon Musk Jokingly Shills Ethereum

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla has gotten “crypto Twitter” abuzz, this time, tweeting about Ethereum, the second-ranked cryptocurrency according to market capitalization. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin took advantage of the situation to educate the tech billionaire on the useful applications that can be built on the emerging technology.

First bitcoin, Then Doge, Now Ethereum

In a tweet published in the early hours of Tuesday (April 30, 2019), UTC time zone, the Tesla CEO posted the word “Ethereum.” Apparently, the tweet was only a meant to be taken as a joke as Musk’s subsequent post said: “jk” (just kidding).

As has happened on previous occasions, Musk’s tweet did see significant traction within the cryptocurrency community on Twitter. Buterin even responded to the tweet, inviting the Tesla CEO to the Ethereum Devcon which begins later in the year.

In response, the price of ETH did experience a slight $5 spike and is up more than 2.5 percent over the last 24 hours.

Poking Fun at the SEC?

Musk appeared to be having a laugh, even slightly ribbing Buterin in some of his replies. Some commentators suggest that Musk’s tweets were a slight dig at U.S. regulators following the Tesla CEO’s recent run-ins with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Back in August 2018, Musk got into hot water with the SEC over a tweet where the Tesla chief said he’d take the company public for $420. As part of the settlement for the case, all subsequent tweets from Musk must be approved by a securities lawyer.

Tuesday’s tweet wasn’t the first time Musk would court attention in the cryptocurrency scene. As previously reported by BTCManager, the Tesla CEO called bitcoin “interesting” but declared that the company had to plans to adopt the cryptocurrency.

Back in 2018, Musk was arguably one of the more public figures impersonated by scambots to spread fake cryptocurrency giveaways on Twitter. The Tesla chief also recently referred to himself as the Dogecoin CEO before “resigning” the position moments later.

Buterin Educates Musk on Blockchain Viability

Jokes aside, Buterin did offer some insight on the useful applications that could be built on the Ethereum blockchain in response to a query posed by Musk. The Ethereum co-founder mentioned a few non-financial blockchain applications involving personal data and registries to mention a few.

My top picks (1):

* A globally accessible financial system, including payments, store of value, also more advanced stuff like insurance https://t.co/AGoMt6r2wK
* Identity: “sign in with Facebook” -> “sign in with an ethereum account, no intermediaries”. Also web of trust…

— Vitalik Non-giver of Ether (@VitalikButerin) April 30, 2019

Buterin has on previous occasions advocated on the need for more non-financial blockchain applications. According to Buterin, once scalability and UX functionality improves, the development of these systems should become a priority for blockchain stakeholders.

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Published at Tue, 30 Apr 2019 19:14:07 +0000

April 1, 2017

Japan’s New Bitcoin Law Could Do More Damage Than NY BitLicense

According to IndieSquare Co-founder Koji Higashi, new regulations in Japan, which will make bitcoin an official form of payment (starting today April 1), may do more harm than good for the fledgling industry in the country.

Japan to Introduce Own ‘Bitlicense’

Following the disastrous demise of the infamous Japanese exchange, Mt. Gox and the arrest of its CEO Mark Karpelès, regulators in the country decided to introduce regulations for bitcoin.

The regulatory framework has been in the works for over two years. The first bill was submitted to the Diet in Japan (the legislature consisting of the Lower and the Upper Houses) last March, and the Payment Services Act and the Act on Preventing of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds were amended in May 2016. Now, new drafts for detailed regulations and guidelines have been approved.

The new law, which is now in place starting today (April 1), is meant to protect consumers and to help them distinguish safe, i.e. approved exchanges, from fraudulent operations.

The law also recognizes approved cryptocurrencies as a legal method of payment in Japan, preventing users from investing in so-called scam coins, fake digital assets, and IOU tokens.

Although praised by western and Japanese media alike, the new regulatory framework may pose serious problems for the Japanese bitcoin community, according to Koji Higashi, Co-Founder of IndieSquare and Community Director at the Counterparty Foundation.

In a blog post, Higashi outlines the major issues with what he calls “Japan’s Bitlicense” due to the similarities found between the two, saying:

I’d actually argue that this law may turn out to be more damaging to the Japanese industry in the long run than what Bitlicense has been to NY.

Why It Could Be Worse Than NY’s

The Bitlicense introduced in New York has been widely perceived by the community as damaging for bitcoin startups in the region due to the bureaucracy and high entry barriers for small startups. It resulted in several startups like ShapeShift and LocalBitcoins halting services for NY-based customers.

Now, Japan is doing the same, explains Higashi. “If you are not a fan of the excessive cost for legal and compliance fee for bitcoin startups, however, the new law in Japan is certainly not exciting news for you,” he notes.

Among others, the requirements involve the submission of a 3-year business plan, segregated fund management, KYC/AML requirements, segregated fund management, frequent reporting to authority, and external audits.

Some experts estimate that the costs involved with becoming a compliant exchange could be as high as $300,000-$500,000 USD. Moreover, additional fees and paperwork will also apply to companies beyond trading platforms and will affect P2P decentralized exchanges as well.

Higashi:

It’s hard to say whether the regulation in Japan is more costly than the Bitlicense but I can say it’s expensive enough to put serious financial pressure on startups and may force them to go out of business completely in some cases.

Another issue with the new regulatory framework is that it will require virtual currencies to be accepted into an official list of approved coins. Although this system may protect users from being scammed out of their savings, it may end up damaging the reputation of coins that don’t make it to the list, which will most likely be a conservative one at best.

bitcoin in Japan

The new regulations may affect bitcoin startups negatively but are also likely to push adoption forward and to create a sense of trust for new users in the virtual currency space. Japan is the fastest growing country in the bitcoin market. For example, trading volume in Japan has recently surpassed that of China and the U.S.

The country is experiencing growing interest in bitcoin from users, investors, and merchants. Blockchain is also a technological focus point both for companies and the government. The Japanese community is also one of the biggest investors in crypto-related crowdfunding campaigns and Initial Coin Offerings, according to Higashi.

[Note: This article was originally published on February 9, 2017. It has been updated as today (April 1) is the first day Japan’s new cryptocurrency law comes into effect.]

Will the new regulations drive companies away from Japan? Or will it usher a new age for cryptocurrency adoption in the country?

Images courtesy of CryptoCompare, Shutterstock, Counterparty.io

The post Japan’s New Bitcoin Law Could Do More Damage Than NY BitLicense appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.