{"id":4353,"date":"2018-01-24T21:15:31","date_gmt":"2018-01-24T21:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/?p=4353"},"modified":"2018-01-24T22:10:54","modified_gmt":"2018-01-24T22:10:54","slug":"news-friedman-llp-parts-with-bitfinex-weiss-crypto-ratings-netherlands-sec-icos-venezuela-arsenal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/01\/24\/news-friedman-llp-parts-with-bitfinex-weiss-crypto-ratings-netherlands-sec-icos-venezuela-arsenal\/","title":{"rendered":"News: Friedman LLP parts with Bitfinex, Weiss Crypto Ratings, Netherlands, SEC, ICOs, Venezuela, Arsenal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m currently 5000 words into a 1500-word article on Tether. There&#8217;s also 1000 words of a 300-word introduction to IOTA, and I haven&#8217;t even got to the hard part, dissecting IOTA&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Time_Cube\">Time Cube<\/a>-in-<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/LaTeX\">L<sup>A<\/sup>T<sub>E<\/sub>X<\/a> white paper. Meanwhile &#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Friedman LLP appear no longer to be auditing Bitfinex\/Tether. Their &#8220;Digital Currency Services&#8221; page, <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20171207150256\/http:\/\/www.friedmanllp.com\/industries\/digital-currency\">7 December:<\/a> &#8220;We audit leaders in the digital currency industry, including the Bitcoin Investment Trust and Bitfinex.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/p2aT3\">24 January: <\/a>&#8220;We audit leaders in the digital currency industry, including the Bitcoin Investment Trust.&#8221; Their <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20171207150304\/http:\/\/www.friedmanllp.com\/insights\/auditor-engagement\">8 May 2017 announcement<\/a> of being engaged by Bitfinex is now a <a href=\"http:\/\/archive.is\/Q5enE\">404 Not Found.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I\u2019ve come up with a compromise to prevent a government shutdown. We can make up the shortfall in the spending bill by printing Tether<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Trumpchain (@trumpchain) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/trumpchain\/status\/954604758479790080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 20, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The words &#8220;Fast&#8221; and &#8220;Low processing fees&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/bitcoin-dot-org\/bitcoin.org\/pull\/2010\/files\">have been removed<\/a> from the bitcoin.org website. Apparently Bitcoin now offers &#8220;fraud protection&#8221; \u2014 perhaps they mean protection for those running frauds. No chargebacks!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Minor ratings agency <a href=\"https:\/\/weissratings.com\/\">Weiss Ratings<\/a> frequently release ratings of banks, credit unions, mutual funds and so forth. They thought it&#8217;d be interesting and topical to <a href=\"https:\/\/weisscryptocurrencyratings.com\/ratings\/frequently-asked-questions-61\">start rating cryptocurrencies.<\/a> Bitcoiners were looking forward to being <a href=\"https:\/\/themerkle.com\/weiss-ratings-will-bring-more-legitimacy-to-proper-cryptocurrencies\/\">taken seriously at last!<\/a> The ratings just <a href=\"https:\/\/weisscryptocurrencyratings.com\/\">came out,<\/a> and &#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/weisscryptocurrencyratings.com\/ratings\/weiss-ratings-issues-grades-on-74-cryptocurrencies-12\">nothing got an A.<\/a> The only Bs were for Cardano, EOS (<a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/icos-magic-beans-and-bubble-machines\/\">what on earth<\/a>), Ethereum, NEO and Steem. Even Bitcoin only got a C+. Crypto advocates took this in stride &#8230; of course they didn&#8217;t, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2018\/01\/24\/weiss-ratings-gives-ethereum-higher-rating-than-bitcoin.html\">they DDOSed the site.<\/a> I have what claims to be <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/weiss-cryptocurrency-ratings-2018-01-24.pdf\">a copy of today&#8217;s ratings<\/a> (630kB PDF), for historical interest; you can <a href=\"https:\/\/orders.weissratings.com\/wcy-crypto-ratings\/EWCYU100\/index.htm?pageNumber=2\">subscribe to Weiss for updates.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The Autoriteit Financi\u00eble Markten, the financial regulator in the Netherlands, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.volkskrant.nl\/4561538\">is banning<\/a> various extremely risky financial products, including crypto-related ones.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>SEC Commissioner Jay Clayton <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/news\/speech\/speech-clayton-012218\">spoke<\/a> at the Securities Regulation Institute on Monday 22 January, about ICOs and securities lawyers&#8217; responsibilities when engaged by an ICO. To the lay reader, his speech looks slightly pointed; to lawyers, it was <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/prestonjbyrne\/status\/955565220407234560\">savage.<\/a> Alexandra Scaggs at FT Alphaville supplies an <a href=\"https:\/\/ftalphaville.ft.com\/2018\/01\/23\/2197970\/ico-regulator-anger-translator\/\">anger translation.<\/a><\/li>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Yes, seriously, you can get served with a lawsuit via twitter.  In Switzerland.  Via DM. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/PEvBspRNWC\">pic.twitter.com\/PEvBspRNWC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Palley (@stephendpalley) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/stephendpalley\/status\/954436224705531904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 19, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Venezuela releases the <a href=\"http:\/\/minci.gob.ve\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/EL-PETRO-ES-INDEPENDENCIA.pdf\">white paper<\/a> for its proposed cryptocurrency, the Petro! It&#8217;s an <a href=\"https:\/\/piie.com\/blogs\/realtime-economic-issues-watch\/venezuelas-ill-advised-cryptocurrency-scheme-update\">aspirational manifesto<\/a> with less substance than a bad ICO white paper. The real pitch is &#8220;we&#8217;re a sovereign country, this is us issuing bonds,&#8221; without the <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2017\/09\/07\/e-estonias-estcoin-proposal-shot-down-by-ecb-saying-blockchain-doesnt-let-you-do-a-parallel-currency\/\">constraints from being in the EU<\/a> that Estonia&#8217;s similar idea suffers \u2014 unlike Estonia, however, they&#8217;re subject to US sanctions, and the US has warned that anyone buying these things <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-venezuela-economy-cryptocurrency\/u-s-warns-investors-over-venezuelas-petro-cryptocurrency-idUSKBN1F52AB\">could be sanctioned in turn.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Arsenal Football Club releases &#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dgwbirch\/status\/956207944760258562\">Arsecoin!<\/a> No, it&#8217;s actually a gambling company, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cashbet.com\/\">CashBet,<\/a> who have started an ICO, <a href=\"https:\/\/coin.cashbet.com\/\">CashBetCoin.<\/a> They bought some advertising from Arsenal and are touting it as a partnership, as you apparently do. The pitch is to offer tokens to gamblers who can&#8217;t send money from their bank account to bookmakers. They&#8217;ll sell you the tokens, but they&#8217;ll never cash them in for you\u00a0\u2014 you&#8217;ll need to go to a third-party exchange to do that. Of course they don&#8217;t have exchange partners as yet. The BBC kindly <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/technology-42809676\">asked me for comment<\/a> \u2014 &#8220;Crypto-currencies are less regulated than regular betting shops and it&#8217;s a lot harder to get actual pounds back out again.&#8221; The <em>official<\/em> word is that punters will &#8220;eventually be able to convert their winnings into cash on third party exchanges.&#8221; Can&#8217;t wait to hear the delight of average Arsenal fans who bet ten quid on something and discover it&#8217;s nearly impossible to collect on their win. My <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/David_Braben\">name was wrong<\/a> for about thirty minutes:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Shouldn\u2019t this be <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/davidgerard?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@davidgerard<\/a>? <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/RnFtXpl7BS\">pic.twitter.com\/RnFtXpl7BS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Alex Sherwood \ud83d\udcc8 (@_AlexSherwood) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/_AlexSherwood\/status\/956208861660241921?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 24, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I exchanged all my fiat money for Credits and bought narcotics on the Coriolis station dark markets, but then the police blew my spaceship up. STATIST COERCION.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Z80 Inside (@raynerlucas) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/raynerlucas\/status\/956228691276828672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 24, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Gareth Costa at The West Australian is &#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/thewest.com.au\/business\/unstable-bitcoins-fractured-future-ng-b88716288z\">not a fan of Bitcoin.<\/a> Nice to see tabloids calling BS on this trash.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Economist <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Joseph_Stiglitz\">Joseph Stiglitz<\/a> <i>almost<\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/business\/status\/955751066695446530\">says Buttcoin<\/a> at 0:52:<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Bitcoin must be regulated to stop money laundering, economist Joseph Stiglitz says <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Ee4vsE8ure\">https:\/\/t.co\/Ee4vsE8ure<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WEF18?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#WEF18<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/A2rdiu5B1v\">pic.twitter.com\/A2rdiu5B1v<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Bloomberg (@business) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/business\/status\/955751066695446530?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 23, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A <a href=\"https:\/\/chrome.google.com\/webstore\/detail\/on-the-blockchain\/jieoegmpbhhhdeidanoldbfnghajiehe\/\">Chrome extension<\/a> that adds <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/we-put-the-entire-internet-on-the-blockchainand-you-can-too\/?mbid=social_twitter_onsiteshare\">&#8220;on the Blockchain&#8221;<\/a> to the end of every sentence.<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Plymouth Herald: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.plymouthherald.co.uk\/whats-on\/shopping\/i-bought-3000-bitcoin-gear-1102871?_ga=2.13016756.289896992.1516734300-720214053.1516734300\">I bought \u00a33,000 of Bitcoin gear on Amazon and they sent me a children&#8217;s DVD.<\/a> Ichim Bogdan Cezar bought an AntMiner S9 off Amazon and they sent him a DVD of <em>Boss Baby<\/em>. Local papers for the win!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>And local radio. Guy Shone from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.explainthemarket.com\/videos\/\">Explain The Market<\/a> was on Anna King&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/p05t56tp\">BBC Gloucestershire show this morning<\/a> (24 January) talking about Bitcoin, from about 1h17m on. A pretty good intro for the average listener (some of whom call in for clarification), the stuff a normal person with a high opinion of their own financial brilliance needs to hear, and includes a plug for <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/book\/\">the book<\/a> at 1:47:30ish!\n \t<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I go to some burger shop and see they accept Bitcoin.<\/p>\n<p>Neat, I think, knowing the transfer fees would probably be, like, $20.<\/p>\n<p>So I ask the cashier how I would pay in Bitcoin.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, I don\u2019t know,\u201d he says. \u201cThey never taught us. No one\u2019s ever asked.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ovqUaatox6\">pic.twitter.com\/ovqUaatox6<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MEPFuller\/status\/955137958159568898?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 21, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\u2513\u250f\u2513\u250f\u2513\u2503<br \/>\u251b\u2517\u251b\u2517\u251b\u2503\uff3c\u25cb\uff0f<br \/>\u2513\u250f\u2513\u250f\u2513\u2503   \/     CRYPTO<br \/>\u251b\u2517\u251b\u2517\u251b\u2503\u30ce)<br \/>\u2513\u250f\u2513\u250f\u2513\u2503         STANDS<br \/>\u251b\u2517\u251b\u2517\u251b\u2503 <br \/>\u2513\u250f\u2513\u250f\u2513\u2503         FOR<br \/>\u251b\u2517\u251b\u2517\u251b\u2503 <br \/>\u2513\u250f\u2513\u250f\u2513\u2503        CRYPTOGR<br \/>\u2503\u2503\u2503\u2503\u2503\u2503               a p h y y y<br \/>\u253b\u253b\u253b\u253b\u253b\u253b<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; sarah jeong (@sarahjeong) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sarahjeong\/status\/955651919279722496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 23, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<br><br><div align=\"center\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/bePatron?u=8420236\"><img src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/become_a_patron_button.svg\" alt=\"Become a Patron!\" title=\"Become a Patron!\" width=217 height=51><\/a><br><p style=\"align:center;\" class=\"patreon-badge\"><i>Your subscriptions keep this site going. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/bePatron?u=8420236\">Sign up today!<\/a><\/i><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m 5000 words into a 1500-word article on Tether, and 1000 words into a 300-word intro to IOTA. Meanwhile, elsewhere &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[422,424,420,310,38,419,418,285,414,9,423,6,417,421,33,39,296,416],"class_list":["post-4353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-afm","tag-anna-king","tag-arsenal","tag-bbc","tag-bitfinex","tag-cashbet","tag-cashbetcoin","tag-friedman-llp","tag-guy-shone","tag-ico","tag-joseph-stiglitz","tag-links","tag-netherlands","tag-petro","tag-sec","tag-tether","tag-venezuela","tag-weiss-ratings"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4353"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4394,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4353\/revisions\/4394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}