The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Bitcoin users across Australia are reporting that their accounts have been abruptly frozen by the country’s “Big Four” banks. Some users complain that the banks are describing their Bitcoin activities as a "security risk". [...]
The cost-of-property and rentals in the state of California has become so high that many middle-class workers, seniors, and disabled people are forced to live in their cars. [...]
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act repealed the individual mandate portion of the Affordable Care Act that requires people who reject the insurance to pay a penalty of $695 or 2.5% of their income. However, Obamacare is still in effect and requires employers with businesses with 50 or more full-time employees to pay for their full-time employees health insurance, regardless of the cost. This is forcing many employers to reduce the number of full-time employees or go out of business altogether. [...]
Charlie Lee, the creator of the world’s fifth-biggest cryptocurrency, Litecoin, announced that he was cashing in his profits after a 9,300% rally in the past 12 months. The San Francisco-based software engineer who founded Litecoin in 2013 said he sold and donated all of his holdings over the past few days. He declined to say how many Litecoins he sold, but said it was a small amount of what is traded daily, so it did not hurt the currency. [...]
Sean is a YouTuber who focuses on economics, finance, and politics.
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Find out what the blockchain is, why the price of Bitcoin has exploded, how to buy and store Bitcoin, and how the banks are maneuvering to dominate the system. This is not a recommendation to buy Bitcoin, but a guide for what to expect should you decide to do so. We believe that lots of money will be made and lost in the early stages of cryptocurrency. The more you know about it, the better your chances are for success. [...]
Bulgaria: Banks cracked down on Bitcoin exchanges last week by closing down the exchanges' commercial-bank accounts and blocking them from obtaining national currencies. The exchanges pointed to bankers, not the government, as the source of the problem, although it is likely that the government would have prevented the banks from doing that to any other class of customers. According to independent news sources, the exchanges began restoring operations several days later. [...]
Bulgaria acquired 213,519 Bitcoin after an organized crime ring was busted for placing a virus into computers at the Customs office that allowed members of the ring to avoid import taxes on their cargo. The group converted its gains to Bitcoin, which now is valued at $3.6 billion. [It is not clear from this article how the government was able to confiscate the Bitcoin inasmuch as cryptocurrencies are supposed to be secure against theft or government seizure.
Protests against the National Anthem by NFL players have contributed to the organization's loss of one-million viewers compared to 2016. According to OKTC's Clay Travis, the four networks that carry the NFL (CBS, ESPN, Fox, and NBC) are on pace to lose $500 million this season compared to last year due to the ratings slide. The top reason for the loss is "cord-cutting" which is cancelling subscriptions to multi-channel television services on cable.
Bitcoin makes another dramatic advance, this time above $9,500 as Korea's second largest bank, Shinhan Bank, tested Bitcoin services for its clients. The bank intends to manage and issue the private keys of bitcoin addresses and wallets. Shinhan is no small enterprise with $192-billion in assets and over 13,000 employees in 2016. Bitcoin now has a market cap over $156-billion, leaving the cryptocurrency worth more than Merck, Disney, and GE. [...]
