The BitLicense has finally been released and Ross Ulbricht has appealed his life sentence. Here are the cryptocurrency highlights of week 23.
- After a long wait the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) released the final version of its BitLicense this week. The regulatory framework for Bitcoin was first announced in July last year, and has been revised several times since. Even so, the public reaction to the latest version was still not a very positive one. The Chamber of Digital Commerce “sees room for improvement”, and Coin Center simply stated that it “falls short”. This is mainly because the language remains vague and unclear.
- At about the same time the State Assembly of California has approved its own Bitcoin regulation bill. The bill will need to pass two more readings, and will “require digital currency businesses to obtain an annually renewable license from the Department of Business Oversight (DBO)”. In the meanwhile New Jersey is considering a pro-Bitcoin bill titled the “Digital Currency Jobs Creation Act”.
- Bitcoin Magazine has presented more evidence that cloud mining company Bitcoin Cloud Services (BCS) is nothing but a Ponzi scheme. It was already known that the company was founded by known scammer Esteban Amador Soto Martinez (concerning bitcoincloudhashing.com), but now Bitcoin Magazine has presented several pieces of information that suggest that this scammer has not changed his ways. In all honesty, the latter should not come as a surprise. More details on the red flags triggered by BCS can be found here.
- Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison last week for running the online drug market place Silk Road, has appealed his conviction and life sentence. Due to being given the maximum sentence, this appeal is Ulbricht’s only chance for some freedom.
- The price of Bitcoin continued to decline this week ending more than three percent, or eight dollar per coin, lower than the previous week. The exchange rate for a single coin is now about $225.
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