Russians are fleeing towards Bitcoin as the Ruble keeps losing value, and New York is easing its BitLicense requirements. Here are the cryptocurrency highlights of week 51:
- Could MasterCard been lobbying against Bitcoin in Australia? The financial giant recently attacked the digital currency by arguing that cryptocurrencies carry too many risks to be successful. Whatever the case, Australia’s tax authorities have now ruled that Bitcoin transactions are subject to Goods and Services Tax (GST), making it unlikely that the cryptocurrency will be classified as “money” anywhere soon.
- Russians are fleeing to Bitcoin as the value of the Ruble keeps falling. Cryptocoinsnews concluded that the BTC-to-Ruble transactions increased by almost 250 percent over the past 30 days.
- Despite the Russian interest, Bitcoin is not doing great either. The digital currency shed another six percent of its total market value over the past week.
- The price of Bitcoin has been recovering over the past 24 hours following the announcement that at least New York’s Department of Financial Services will ease some of the requirements for holding a BitLicense. Benjamin Lawsky declared that the changes are “are primarily focused on providing additional flexibility for virtual currency startups to innovate – while at the same time maintaining our commitment to protecting consumers and rooting out illicit activity”
- Is Dogecoin making a comeback? At least Amagi Metals will start accepting Dogecoin again. The precious metal dealer stopped accepting the digital currency in July, but has now chosen GoCoin to as their official payment processing partner.