Crypto for newbies: Bitcoin, adjustments and developments

• Financial

Some commentators raise doubts about the real technical feasibility of blocking anonymous exchanges in cryptocurrencies on the Internet. The restrictions would be motivated by the activity of criminal and terrorist organizations in anonymous and crypto exchanges, by the risk of the numerous and small savers who buy cryptocurrencies as a safe haven or to earn on price changes, by the instability created by the few large investors on the Stock Exchange.

The measures vary from the path of self-regulation of the sector with the creation of national registers of authorized operators, to the suspension of shares on the Stock Exchange, a ban on anonymous transactions reserving them for those with an authenticated bank account, to the blocking of credit cards.

Another issue is the ownership and control of the currency, and of the wealth exchanged in Bitcoin without passing through traditional banking investment channels. The cryptocurrency is issued by operators who are sometimes listed on the stock exchange, but who do not own the value brought into the exchange circuits, and who are out of control because they act in a multinational context and are not themselves influenced by the monetary policy instruments of the central banks.

Properly, credit cards cannot be used by users to directly make purchases of goods sold in cryptocurrencies as is possible with a foreign currency: first the cryptocurrency must be purchased by depositing it into a virtual account, from which it is then possible to make exchanges.

The limitations primarily concerned Bitcoin, which is the oldest and among those with the greatest frequency and volume of transactions. On September 19, 2017, the Chinese government blocked cryptocurrency exchanges in Shanghai and Beijing.

Bitcoin calculates that 30% of the total trade value is concentrated in China in the 1,200 cryptocurrencies surveyed, making it the main global financial center in this type of currency. The investor risks his entire capital, but financial gains through cryptocurrencies in China are not taxed, with only the obligation for American investors to declare over $10,000.

On the same day, Japan was one of the first and few countries in the world to recognize the legitimacy of cryptocurrencies, introducing regulation and registering eleven traders in a register set up with the stock exchange supervisory authority, used by some companies as a benefit for their own employees.
The news comes a few hours after a similar decision by the US SEC, which under federal law has the power to shut down illegal sites: the US and Japan are the most dynamic markets for new electronics and Internet commerce.

However, the deposit account does not have a security character, like a securities deposit. The Lloyd group and Bank of Scotland have blocked their customers from purchasing Bitcoins, following the US Citigroup, Bank of America and JPMorgan, while the May Government intends to legislate on the matter.

The main Australian banks have frozen the accounts of users and traders denominated in cryptocurrencies without warning, while the Government without intervening has eliminated double taxation with respect to national currencies.