A recent report by the United Nations High Commision for Human Rights Committee on Torture excoriated the United States for its human rights record at home and abroad in it first review of the United States since 2006. The United States record was reviewed along with those of several other parties to the 1987 U.N Convention Against Torture which was ratified by the United States in 1994. A number of issues raised in the committee's conclusions include: Continue reading
HSBC Cuts Ties with GABI
HSBC has reportedly cut ties with the "regulated" Global Advisors Bitcoin Investment Fund (GABI) over concerns related to "money laundering" risks. Notably in 2012 HSBC settled with the United States for $1.92 billion related to assistance it allegedly provided drug cartels in laundering money in Mexico and Columbia, likely making the money laundering issue a very sore subject for the bank.
Michael Mizrachi AKA The Grinder To Launch Bitcoin Based Poker Site
In an interview with CalvinAyre.com, Michael Mizrachi, better known as The Grinder, has discussion his intention to launch a bitcoin based poker site which he is calling Get Lucky Poker. The website, currently under construction, already sports a HTML5 and Windows client although bitcoin play is currently disabled. Mizrachi hopes to launch the site in January 2015. Continue reading
Qntra (S.QNTR) November 2014 Statement
CoinJar Relocate From Australia To UK, No Longer Charging GST
CoinJar has announced the relocation of its headquarters from Melbourne, Australia to the UK. As a result of the change, CoinJar customers are no longer subject to a GST of 10% when purchasing bitcoin via the platform.
CoinJar first began collecting the GST on bitcoin purchases as of October 3rd 2014. The addition of the GST made CoinJar the most expensive place to purchase bitcoin in Australia. After the GST was implemented, Qntra speculated that CoinJar customers had no reason to use the website as competitors, such as Circle, were now accepting credit cards from Australian users1 and did not collect the GST, making it a cheaper option despite currency exchange fees. Continue reading
Hit and miss depending on who issued the credit card. ↩
ATO Submission To Economics References Committee Now Available
A copy of the Australian Tax Office's submission to the Economics References Committee held by the Australian Senate on the 26th of November 2014 is now available to the public. A copy can be downloaded via PDF here or read below. Continue reading
US Supreme Court to Hear Oral Arguments in Speech Case
The supreme court tomorrow will hear oral arguments in the case of Elonis v. United States. The legal question to be argued is:
(1) Whether, consistent with the First Amendment and Virginia v. Black, conviction of threatening another person under 18 U.S.C. § 875(c) requires proof of the defendant's subjective intent to threaten, as required by the Ninth Circuit and the supreme courts of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont; or whether it is enough to show that a “reasonable person” would regard the statement as threatening, as held by other federal courts of appeals and state courts of last resort; and (2) whether, as a matter of statutory interpretation, conviction of threatening another person under 18 U.S.C. § 875(c) requires proof of the defendant's subjective intent to threaten.
Elonis was convicted for the high crime of posting rap lyrics he had authored to his Facebook page and as a result was sentenced to 44 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.
Coinapult Relaunch Their Bitcoin SMS Service
Coinapult, which first introduced its BTC to SMS service in May 2012 to users in the US and Canada, has relaunched the service, making it available to users across the globe excluding the United States. Coinapult cited the regulatory minefield in the US as one of the reasons why the service is unavailable for use there. Continue reading
Citigroup's Buiter: Gold a Shiny Bitcoin
According to Marketwatch Citigroup's "Global Chief Economist" William Buiter has some thoughts on Gold, Bitcoin, and other currencies in response to a Swiss referendum on how much gold the Swiss central bank should be keeping in reserves and where. Among those thoughts: Continue reading
The Bitcoin.com.au Story Continues
On the 25th and 26th of November, Qntra ran a story in which we claimed the bitcoin.com.au domain name had been deleted due to a complaint lodged with auDA which outlined incorrect registrant information. In response to that article, Qntra received a statement from Shane Murphy on behalf of digitalBTC and Zhenya Tsvetnenko which can be read here. Shane Murphy clarified that the domain name had been dropped by Zhenya in his capacity as sole director of Magna Fortis Pty Ltd and not Executive Chairman of digitalBTC, an important distinction. Continue reading