BEST OF THE BEST QUARTZ: With high-level government meetings having discussed banning public cryptocurrencies, it’s not looking good for India’s crypto businesses or general users. But, says Quartz India, enacting a complete ban will be
anything but easy.
If a ban is ultimately issued, the underlying blockchain technology that makes the ownership of cryptocurrencies decentralized simply makes it unrealistic for the government to actually enforce it.
And even if the government shuts down crypto exchanges in the country – which in total handle over 5 million users, the piece says – there will always be “small, hyperlocal exchanges” as well as foreign platforms and peer-to-peer trading to counter.
What’s more, a ban would merely “fuel money laundering, illegitimate transactions, and tax evasion,” the article argues.
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THE NEXT WEB Two cryptocurrency mining outfits have (kind of) mysteriously
disappeared from Norrbotten county, Sweden, according to TNW, citing a local news source.
One of the firms, Miami-based bitcoin miner NGDC, apparently shut up shop this autumn after burning $1.5 million-worth of electricity, then not paying its bills and having its power supply cut.
The second firm, Chasqui Tech, apparently presented its mining business plan and rented premises from the local municipality, but… never turned up. TNW says the municipality is now trying to get back over $50,000 in unpaid rent.
MARKETWATCH: Young people are increasingly asking Santa (or their parents) for digital assets of various sorts, according to
this piece in MarketWatch.
Citing a recent survey by U.S. investment bank and asset management firm Piper Jaffray, the article says teens have for the first time said they want cryptocurrency and Fortnite’s virtual currency “V-Bucks” instead of cash and gift cards this coming holiday.
The number one item, however, on U.S. teenagers’ wish list this Christmas was, of course, Apple’s iPhone.
