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Merely weeks after  cautioning residents  that bitcoin companies weren’t authorized or licensed to operate in the country, India’s central bank is reportedly not including bitcoin under the purview of regulations for digital payments. In essence, the cryptocurrency will not be legitimized as a legal form of payment or settlement in an economy which is the world’s largest receiver of remittances, anytime soon. Claim Your $500 worth of Bitcoin  Digital payments and financial technology (Fintech) solutions have caught on rampantly amongst the Indian society in recent times, particularly after a sweeping, unprecedented  cash crunch  brought on by the government’s demonetization drive. In light of these new innovations, the  Payments and Settlement Systems Act of 2007  [PDF], the code by which payment systems are regulated, was amended to include digital payment gateways and platforms. The amended regulations will look to deem physical cash and d...

A dedicated bitcoin bank, possibly the world’s first, has opened on Mariahilfer Strasse in downtown Vienna,  Austria , according to  The Local , an English-language Austrian news site. The bank is owned by a Berlin-based blockchain startup, Bit Trust Services, and it is named Bitcoin-Bank. The bank is designed to make buying and selling bitcoin easier and safer than other in-person options. The bank’s ATM machines exchange  bitcoin  for euro, and vice versa. The bank also provides information about the virtual currency. Magdalena Isbrandt, managing director of Bit Trust, told state broadcaster ORF that digital currency transactions are faster than other transactions and can be done without a middleman. “Value and money can be sent straight from user to user,” she said. Touting Digital’s Advantages Andreas Petersson, co-founder of Bitcoin Austria, said digital currency’s main advantage is anonymity. “If I pay online with bitcoin, I have ...

The Bank of England is feeling the heat again after its new, more upbeat picture for Britain's economy put an uncomfortable focus back on its warning last year about a quick and sharp Brexit vote hit to growth. Governor Mark Carney woke up on Friday to headlines in anti-European Union newspapers that accused him of leading the Bank into a U-turn. "More humble pie for Bank as economy keeps growing," the Daily Express said. The BoE surprised investors on Thursday when it hiked its forecast for growth this year to 2.0 percent. That was up from a call of 1.4 percent made just three months ago and represented a leap from its first post-referendum forecast of 0.8 percent. The new prediction was higher than all but one of 50 forecasts by private economists in a Reuters poll in January, raising some eyebrows in the City of London. The BoE also edged up its growth forecasts for the following two years. At the same time, Carney and his fellow policymakers lowered their forecast...