Bitcoin Magazine’s Week in Review
Bitcoin Magazine’s Week in Review brings you the most critical, interesting and popular news stories affecting Bitcoin this week.
Regulation
Canadian Government Releases Final AML Regulations for Crypto Businesses
The government of Canada introduced its final AML regulations on July 10, 2019. The new regulations will impact exchanges, digital platforms, custodial wallets, ICOs, utility and gaming tokens, escrow services and ATMs.
The regulations are set to be executed on June 1, 2020. If you are a Canadian crypto business owner or have Canadian clients, check out the article to see how you might be affected by the updates.
Investing
ShapeShift Launches New Noncustodial Crypto Platform
On July 8, 2019, ShapeShift launched its new noncustodial platform, which will allow users to buy, sell and trade cryptocurrencies while also maintaining full control of their private keys. According to ShapeShift Founder and CEO Erik Voorhees, the new platform will support over 50 cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, ether and litecoin.
Adoption and Community
Playing on Layer 2: Satoshi’s Games Brings Lightning to the Next Level
Bitcoin’s second layer has allowed for some interesting smart contract functions that have encouraged enthusiasts to work on Lighting applications that disrupt everything from content monetization to privacy-friendly text messaging. The LApps mostly serve as proof-of-concept prototypes that lack the user friendliness of their centralized fiat-friendly counterparts, but they are helping create new ways to circumvent rules and conventions of the old world.
Satoshi’s Games, the Lightning-friendly equivalent of certain flash game websites, features games with similar mechanics to those of Super Mario World, Minecraft and The Legend of Zelda. Those who pay 1,000 satoshis will have access to premium games that reward players with satoshis.
OP ED
Op Ed: Debunking Bitcoin Myths: ‘We Need Blockchain, Not Bitcoin’
In a timely op ed, Kyle Torpey reminds us that they hype of “blockchain technology” usually has nothing to do with with Bitcoin, and what the banks are doing with it has nothing to do with the cypherpunk vision of digital cash on the internet.
While banks are currently trying to implement blockchain technologies into traditional finance spaces, they are more interested in permissioned systems. However, a blockchain that can easily be controlled by regulators does not really pose any major advantages over the existing systems that banks use. Bitcoin, on the other hand, appears to have succeeded in enabling the cypherpunk vision, which allows users to transact freely and store their savings in a difficult-to-seize manner.
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