Monthly Archives: July 2015

Risky Loans Shunned by Banks Are Booming in Wall Street’s Shadow

Posted on by

“Regulators’ efforts to rein in Wall Street’s biggest banks are in danger of backfiring.  Guidelines aimed at strengthening lending standards are shifting the market for high-yield credit to less-supervised loan funds, raising alarm this week from the Financial Stability Oversight Council. Because the funds don’t have depositors, some of their money comes from Wall Street banks, leaving systemically important institutions exposed to risks regulators hoped to avoid.  BDCs and private credit funds [are called] ‘Dodd-Frank banks’ because they’ve grown in the wake of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act’s heightened supervisory scrutiny of regulated lenders.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-22/wall-street-flouts-fed-standards-to-fund-high-risk-loans

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Shadowy federal agency snooping in your wallet

Posted on by

“Created under the sweeping Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, the agency sets regulatory guidance for an array of financial products.  The bureau is funded through a direct percentage of Federal Reserve income, not by Congress – and that means there’s no congressional oversight.  A recent report found that the CFPB has accomplished the monitoring of more than 85 percent of all credit card records from U.S. consumers. The agency’s goal is to reach 95 percent of the domestic credit card marketplace.  The bureau presided over the U.S. Department of Justice’s Operation Choke Point, a campaign to choke off the credit lines of targeted businesses.”

http://watchdog.org/227457/federal-discrimination-cfpb/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

The Future of the Web Looks a Lot Like Bitcoin

Posted on by

“More and more, it seems, the priorities of these institutions do not align with those of the people they serve. Remember when Facebook toggled the digital levers in its social network to run massive psychology experiments on its users?  When confronted with an intractable problem, we’ve settled for the least egregious option by placing responsibility for our digital data in as few hands as possible. Because, really, the only thing sillier than trusting some central authority with our most precious digital records would be trusting a bunch of strangers with them.  And yet, this is precisely what Bitcoin achieves: a public database that everyone can see, anyone can add to, and no one can destroy.”

http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/networks/the-future-of-the-web-looks-a-lot-like-bitcoin

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

New York ‘BitLicense’ Forces Mining Pool BTCGuild To Shut Down

Posted on by

“The most famous form of Bitcoin regulation around the world is New York’s BitLicense, a regulatory framework developed by the New York Department of Financial Services.  The way BitLicense works is that any Bitcoin-related company offering any service to their customers – with or without touching any of their funds – would be forced to keep a record of personal information for each user. For example, if you run a Bitcoin mining pool that is used by at least one person in New York, you will need to obtain that person’s name, address and email address. Furthermore, you will be required to turn over this information if the state of New York ever asks for it.”

http://digitalmoneytimes.com/crypto-news/bitlicense-forces-mining-pool-btcguild-to-shut-down/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Money Will Be Digital — But Will It Be Free?

Posted on by

“What a strange world we now live in. Total surveillance of every citizen’s transactions, without any basis or suspicion, is not just normal but presented as a virtue, a form of patriotism. Using cash or wishing to retain your financial privacy is inherently suspect, a radical position, soon to be a crime.  Using cash or wishing to retain your financial privacy is inherently suspect, a radical position, soon to be a crime.  A future where all payments are trackable is terrifying, but a world with centralized control over transactions would be even worse. Digital currency with centralized control means the eradication of property as a right.”

http://fee.org/freeman/detail/money-will-be-digital-but-will-it-be-free

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Ending the Ownership of Money

Posted on by

im-header-logo-grey1

“The overriding effect that the elimination of cash will have on people will be that they will lose their freedom of monetary movement. They will be subject to government and banking surveillance of every transaction and, increasingly, will be subject to legislation that limits currency movement.  Once this point is reached, governments will be free to move to a stage in which they declare that money is not the possession of the individual or company. It’s the possession of the government and the government ‘allows’ the public to use its currency in order to conduct commerce. As such, individuals and companies had best ‘behave,’ or they might find the privilege taken away and the money confiscated.”

http://www.internationalman.com/articles/ending-the-ownership-of-money

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Ecuador launches new digital currency after banning competitors

Posted on by

“The new system, which is officially set to launch on Thursday, will work much like mobile phone bank payments in other countries: users will be able to exchange hard cash for digital money which is stored in an electronic wallet on their phones.  As with other mobile payment programmes, text messages will allow users to make payments to other accounts, but what makes this plan different is that this is the first time a national government will have full control; everything from the creation of new units to securing the system against attack will be managed by the Central Bank of Ecuador.  The bill that authorized the digital dollar also banned Bitcoin and other digital currencies.”

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/26/ecuador-digital-currency-dollar-rafael-correa

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Spendable Gold

Posted on by

“The state of Texas has passed a bill to create a gold depository and to create a means for transactions to occur in precious metals.  Under the new law, an account holder could use an electronic system to make payments to others who hold accounts.  This legislation, if it’s followed through upon, would end the monopoly now held by the Federal Reserve to create money, and end the plan for the banks to totally control money.  Any individual who sees the currency debacle coming would be able to withdraw his funds and buy gold. Were this legislation to spread to other states, each state could develop the ability to be economically independent of the central bank.”

http://www.internationalman.com/articles/spendable-gold

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Amid the Greek Crisis, Bitcoin Reminds Everyone It’s Not Perfect

Posted on by

“The economic crisis in Greece has turned some attention to Bitcoin again. The price of the digital currency has rallied over the past few days, partly because some Greeks have been snapping up the currency amid bank closures and cash withdrawal limits.  But over the weekend, Bitcoin’s software provided a well-timed reminder of why it’s not the perfect financial system, either. Bitcoin transactions have been taking five times longer than usual to complete, according to Gil Luria, an analyst at Wedbush Securities. The problems stem from a new version of the Bitcoin software that runs on PCs and servers underpinning the currency’s decentralized system.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-06/amid-the-greek-crisis-bitcoin-reminds-everyone-it-s-not-perfect

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Bitcoin: Greece’s new euro workaround?

Posted on by

“Joaquin Fenoy was wandering the streets of Athens Friday, doing his bit to ease Greece’s currency restrictions. He wasn’t handing out cash, but rather installing an ATM with a withdrawal limit of €1,000 (about $1,100). That’s €940 above the €60 daily ATM withdrawal limit the Greek government put in place to stop a bank run as its creditors decide the country’s financial fate. There is one catch, though: You need to have the virtual currency bitcoin to use it.  In Greece’s case, worried relatives in London could buy bitcoins and transfer them to the digital wallet of a family member in Athens, who could then withdraw the bitcoins as euros from Bitchain’s ATM.”

http://fortune.com/2015/07/10/greece-bitcoin-bitchain/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet