Bill

Bill Gates had claimed on a talk program arranged by CNBC that he would bet against bitcoin if he could. The co-founder of a crypto exchange, Tyler Winklevoss, responded to that statement on Twitter, explaining what Microsoft’s co-founder could do to short bitcoin.

Richard Branson, Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Group has warned the public using his twitter handle and official Virgin website against the dangers of fake bitcoin scam. According to his current blog post "Beware of fake bitcoin scam stories," he expresses his interest in bitcoin scam fairytales, especially those involving his name.

Intending to use the global interest in digital currency to benefit the country’s budget, Belarus has officially presented information containing cryptocurrency accounting standards, as the recent document issued by the Ministry of Finance states. The document has outlined the ways of categorizing virtual coins that are obtained from organizations.

Filipino senator Leila de Lima wants to impose stiffer fines on the criminals who conduct a scam or other illegal activity using cryptocurrency, especially Bitcoin. She has presented a draft bill aimed at releasing an update of the country’s penal code.

Bitcoin prices tumbled on Thursday, following news that South Korea’s government is considering a ban cryptocurrency trading. While the U.S. appears to have embraced cryptocurrency trading with the introduction of futures by the CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) and the CBOE (Chicago Board of Options Exchange), which are regulated by the CFTC and SEC, South Korea’s Justice minister Park Sang-ki said the government was preparing a bill to completely halt trading of bitcoin or other digital currency on domestic exchanges.

The deputy of State Duma from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Rizvan Kurbanov, has submitted a draft of a bill to the government that would fix a new crypto token called "CryptoRuble" as an official means of payment in Russia.

The Japanese market is looking forward to Bitcoin legalization as it promises numerous benefits for companies. The bill came into force on April 1st. And that is not an April’s Fool joke! Most market players believe these new rules will cause a significant boost to the Japanese economy as new regulations will make it easier for their customers to know what is legal, and what is not.

Venezuela, one of South America’s biggest oil-producing nations, is an economically depressed nation characterized by high rates of unemployment, food rationing and massive migration to other countries, including Europe. Despite all this, the socialist government is offering almost free electricity to people which aids Bitcoin mining activities.

Russian authorities plan to discuss the legislative status of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies on December 15, 2016.