Swisscom is establishing a new blockchain unit to develop applications, including for possible solutions to enable off-exchange trading, the Swiss government-owned phone company said on Thursday.
The Swiss company, according to new reports, has established "Swisscom Blockchain AG" to focus on a range of services around the tech. These include enterprise-facing solutions as well as support for companies looking to launch initial coin offerings (ICOs).
The founder of the world’s largest hedge fund he believes that there’s a bubble in the bitcoin market. Ray Dalio is the founder of Bridgewater Associates, which according to recent rankings is the biggest hedge fund by total assets under management. Per its website, Bridgewater manages around $160 billion in assets.
The State Secretariat for International Financial Matters (SIF) under the Swiss Federal Department of Finance and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) launched on Tuesday in Bern a financial dialogue to promote co-operation on financial market issues of common interest. At the margin of the Dialogue, the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) and the HKMA facilitated an open seminar for the private sector.
FINMA, Switzerland’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority, has shut down a cryptocurrency racket as part of its latest efforts to tackle digital currency fraud. Per its latest edict, FINMA’s victim was a fake cryptocurrency provider. It is at the same time pursuing as many as twelve other cases amidst an uptick of fraud in the country.
The action came less than a week after China unveiled its own harsh measures. In addition to a blanket ban on ICOs, China-based cryptocurrency exchanges must stop trading and notify users of their closure by month’s end.
BTC China, one of the China’s largest Bitcoin exchange platform, announced in a Tweet on Thursday that it will shut down Bitcoin trading within China by the 30th of September. The move comes after Chinese regulators banned fundraising through Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) on September 4th citing concerns over financial fraud and speculation.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says bitcoin is worse than the most infamous asset bubble in history. Speaking at a banking conference in New York, Dimon said he would fire “in a second” anyone at the investment bank found to be trading in bitcoin. “For two reasons: it’s against our rules, and they’re stupid. And both are dangerous.”
He added: “The currency isn’t going to work. You can’t have a business where people can invent a currency out of thin air and think that people who are buying it are really smart.
Chinese authorities are preparing to shut down the country’s bitcoin exchanges, according to people familiar with the matter, reflecting a growing unease with the virtual currency and its recent surge in value, as
multiple Monday reports wrote.
Beginning January 2018, Chiasso, Switzerland will allow its citizens to pay taxes in Bitcoin, following the lead of Zug. This news came on Thursday thanks to an executive note published by the municipality of Chiasso. The city likely aims to surpass its rival Zug, also known as the CryptoValley, by accepting Bitcoin as a method of payments for taxes for a value of up to 250 CHF, versus the 200 CHF limit imposed by Zug.
