Satashi Nakamoto is not eligible to win a Nobel prize, and the G7 could change its stance on Bitcoin. Here are the cryptocurrency highlights of week 47:
- Despite a nomination by University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Professor of Finance Bhagwan Chowdhry, Bitcoin’s creator Satoshi Nakamoto will not get a chance at winning the Nobel Prize in Economics. The Nobel Committee has stated that “the prize, as in this instance, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Science in Memory of Alfred Nobel, is never awarded anonymously nor posthumously”, meaning that Satoshi Nakamoto is not eligible to win it unless he decides to reveal himself.
- Following the recent terrorist attacks in Paris the G7, the central bank governors and finance ministers of 7 major countries, have found an excuse to plan on tightening regulation on digital currencies. The reason for the former is that Bitcoin could be used to finance terrorism outside the control of banks or governments. Just last month, the UK released a report that that stated “there is little evidence to indicate that the use of digital currencies has been adopted by criminals involved in terrorist financing” and therefore deemed Bitcoin a “low” risk for terrorist financing, unlike traditional finance which was deemed “high” risk in the same report.
- Bitcoin has already received important support against the G7’s new plans to tighten virtual currency regulation from the US Chamber of Digital Commerce (CDC), which urges the G7 not to overreact in seeking to prevent future terror attacks. The CDC argues that the Bitcoin blockchain could be one of the greatest tools available to law enforcement, as it is one of the most transparent currencies available. According to CDC president Perianne Boring “this gives law enforcement a greater chance at following, tracing, and ultimately apprehending criminals that use bitcoin, as opposed to cash, where there is no digital trail”.
- The ongoing block size debate is leading to ventures emerging. BTCC, formerly known as BTC China, is launching a new blockchain service called BlockPriority. The service is intended to prioritize Bitcoin transaction confirmations for BTCC customers. According to BTCC Chief Operating Officer Samson Mow it allow BTCC to mitigate the “potential impact to our customers from the lack of progress on block size increases.”
- The price of Bitcoin was already heading downward, and the potential new regulation coming from the G7 just added to the price volatility. Compared to the previous week Bitcoin has lost more than two percent of its value, leaving the current exchange rate at about $325 per coin.
