Monthly Archives: March 2014

New Active Trading Bitcoin Fund Seeks UK Investors

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“The Bitcoin Superfund will use a combination of algorithmic and human trading to achieve a higher rate of return than a simple ‘buy-and-hold’ strategy, its founders claim.  There is no specific launch date at present, but the Superfund is in the process of identifying institutional and high-net-worth investors to reach a target of £5m ($8.3m) under management at launch.  However, the fund is seeking Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) approval to operate in the UK, but with the FCA yet to issue any definitive statement on bitcoin, it is unclear how long this will take or if it will be possible.”

http://www.coindesk.com/new-active-trading-bitcoin-fund-seeks-uk-investors/

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Crisis looms after Tongan passports sold

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“Tonga is slipping into a high-level political crisis after revelations its diplomatic passports have been sold to Chinese nationals on the express order of the island nation’s prime minister.  The issue is splitting the already divided royal family, with King Tupou VI ordering that passports not be sold – but the Queen Mother insisting they be given to her Chinese friends.  Diplomatic passports give holders special high-security access in many airports.  Tonga has had a long history of selling citizenship and passports. In the 1990s it gave them away to runaway despots such as Ferdinand Marcos, of the Philippines, and his family, Hong Kong criminals and Libyan and Palestinian nationals.”

http://www.smh.com.au/world/crisis-looms-after-tongan-passports-sold-20140328-zqo4e.html

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The Benefits of Bitcoin in International Travel

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“Bitcoin solves many problems that international travellers currently deal with. It eliminates the hassle and fees associated with converting to local currencies and carrying cash, and it securely protects the payment credentials of consumers to avoid fraud risk and the potential to lose bank account access in a foreign country.  While it is tough to travel with only bitcoin on international trips at the moment, the rapid merchant adoption of bitcoin is changing this.  Travel-focused merchants such as CheapAir.com, BTCTrip and Pointshound are just a few merchants generating significant bitcoin sales from international travellers.”

http://www.coindesk.com/benefits-bitcoin-international-travel/

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Bitcoin’s ‘Demise’ A Reminder Of How Not Free We Are

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“I don’t think governments can stop the idea of cryptocurrency itself. All they are doing is forcing developers out there to create better, more paranoid coins—similar to how the recording industry’s vendetta against Napster didn’t stop music sharing, it enabled it to occur on a much wider scale (they stopped Napster, so the Internet went with Bittorrent).  And really, ‘The lady doth protest too much.’ If cryptocurrency is so untenable and dangerous, as governments maintain, let it collapse on its own lack of merit. Don’t suffocate it with inappropriate classification or authoritarian bans.”

https://medium.com/p/d5545bf0e2cb

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Silicon Valley Billionaire Buys World-Record Life Insurance Policy

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“An unnamed Silicon Valley billionaire has purchased the world’s most valuable life insurance policy.  Guinness Book of World Record officials say the $201 million life insurance policy is more than double the previous record.  A Southern California financial services company who helped put the deal together declined to identify the policy buyer.  The firm says that the life insurance policy is actually two dozen policies underwritten by 19 different insurers. That’s because no one company could afford to pay the policies’ benefactors when the billionaire died.  The company didn’t disclose the annual cost to the billionaire for the policy but did say it was in the single millions of dollars.”

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/03/15/silicon-valley-billionaire-buys-world-record-life-insurance-policy-can-you-guess-how-much-its-worth/

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What Every American Expat Should Know About… US Expat Taxes

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“Even after you move, some states will still require you to pay tax on your worldwide income! Some of the worst states for US expat taxes are California, South Carolina, Virginia, or New Mexico-If you were a resident of one of these states before your move, you are going to have to work very hard to prove your non-resident status in order to avoid tax there as well.  Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming have no state income tax. If planned in advance, you can work to change your residency to one of these more favorable states. It will be a bit of a chore now, but when your tax bill is thousands less later on, you will be glad you put in the effort!”

http://www.expatistan.com/blog/35-What-Every-American-Expat-Should-Know-About-US-Expat-Taxes

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Luxembourg and USA sign FATCA Model 1 IGA

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“The Luxembourg and US governments have today signed an agreement to improve international tax compliance and implement the so-called Model 1 Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) of the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).  As a result of this agreement, the Luxembourg Tax Administration has set up two working groups including different actors from the public and private sectors in order to implement the automatic exchange of information under this agreement.  The first working group focuses on general issues, while the second will deal mainly with the electronic communication of information between reporting financial institutions and the Tax Administration.”

http://www.investmenteurope.net/investment-europe/news/2337002/luxembourg-and-usa-sign-fatca-model-1-iga

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China seizes $14.5 billion from family, associates of ex-security chief

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“Chinese authorities have seized assets worth at least 90 billion yuan ($14.5 billion) from family members and associates of retired domestic security tsar Zhou Yongkang, who is at the centre of China’s biggest corruption scandal in more than six decades, two sources said.  More than 300 of Zhou’s relatives, political allies, proteges and staff have also been taken into custody or questioned in the past four months, the sources, who have been briefed on the investigation, told Reuters.  It may be driven partly by political payback after Zhou angered leaders such as Xi by opposing the ouster of former high-flying politician Bo Xilai, who was jailed for life in September for corruption and abuse of power.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/30/us-china-corruption-zhou-idUSBREA2T02S20140330

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China Mulling Implementing FATCA-Like Law To Reduce Tax Evasion

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“China is considering implementing rules on the lines of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, which would make it difficult for wealthy people in China to stash away money in Hong Kong, which is a special administrative region of China and, signed an agreement on Tuesday with the U.S. to share tax information about Americans who work or own assets on the island. Since last September, G-20 summits have discussed measures to tackle tax evasion, and member nations, including China, have decided to exchange tax information automatically by 2015.”

http://www.ibtimes.com/china-mulling-implementing-fatca-law-reduce-tax-evasion-mainland-hong-kong-agreed-share-tax-1564261

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Cuba plans big tax breaks to lure foreign investors

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“Cuba’s communist government has drawn up a new foreign investment law that will cut the profits tax in half and exempt investors from paying it for eight years in an attempt to attract desperately needed capital into the economy.  But the proposed law appears to withhold many of the tax benefits from companies that are 100 percent foreign-owned.  The proposed law includes a clause that bans expropriations except in cases of public interest previously established by the government, in which case investors would be compensated.  The new investment law continues the structural economic reforms under way in Cuba since President Raul Castro took over from his ailing brother Fidel in 2008.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/26/us-cuba-investment-idUSBREA2P23Z20140326

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