As tech firms play larger roles in more peoples’ lives, they attract the attention of regulators. Around the world, enquiries and court cases are underway, scrutinising everything from data protection to anti-competitive behaviour, and even – most notably – the role of tech firms in election interference. In my last post, I disaggregated the ‘tech’ […]
Tag: regulation
Bitcoin and other blockchain-based cryptocurrencies are revolutionary thanks to their decentralized and unregulated nature. Not tied to any central bank or government, these virtual currencies have begun to redefine the fintech sector in a number of ways, but their iconoclastic properties mean they inhabit a murky stretch of legal landscape. As virtual currencies that permeate […]
As I have been writing in this space of late, the days of the Wild West for cryptocurrency are absolutely at an end. The writing has been on the wall all summer. The latest news to hammer the point home? As September dawned last week, six more major banks joined a UBS-led effort to create […]
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Can Bitcoin Be Regulated?
One of the attractions of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is the idea that they are not regulated by a central banking authority. It has led to some spectacular jumps in the price of Bitcoin, which is controlled by a relatively small number of global investors. The volatility in the market was even more obvious this […]
Cryptocurrencies are digital assets or “tokens” – akin to the idea of money – specifically designed to take advantage of the architecture of the Internet. Unlike traditional currency they have value not because of the guarantee of a financial institution or government. Instead, they have value for three reasons: their ability to be accurately “confirmed” […]
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What Is Cryptocurrency?
While “Bitcoin” has become a household word over the past several years, the concept of what cryptocurrency actually is goes far beyond traditional concepts of “money”. First invented by the individual or group of people known as Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009, the original concept was to create a decentralized automated cash machine (in very simplified […]