Regulators on the Isle of Man Consider Digital Currencies

Isle of Man regulators want to change the definition of money deposits to include something that has money’s worth covering virtual currencies

News media have reported that Isle of Man regulators are considering virtual currencies such as Bitcoin to ensure that regulations among licensees remain relevant.

Because of the high popularity and increase of use of digital currencies in online gambling, CoinDeck, a popular publication, reported that gambling regulations on the Isle of Man are pondering on introducing changes that would give gambling services the freedom to accept virtual currencies as if they were real cash. This would ensure that regulatory measures remain watertight and pertinent.

Changing the Definition of Money Deposits in Gambling

The publication says that the Gambling Commission on the Isle of Man is considering changing the definition of ‘deposit of money’ in order to include the ‘deposit of something which has money’s worth or a value of cash’ covering all virtual currencies. The deputy chief executive of the Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission, Mark Rutherford, told CoinDeck that the move is a small hook in the gambling regulations. He also said that there are no applications currently that want to offer gambling in virtual currencies, also adding that the government of the Isle of Man doesn’t want to impede tech innovation in the future.

The publication also noted that in May 2015 Isle of Man regulators were largely talked about in the news when they had launched a block-chain based trial in cooperation with the local start-up company Pythia.
Furthermore, the publication reports that the Department of Economic Development of Isle of Man has been looking for ways to proactively respond on digital currencies for many years. They want to become the ‘early mover’ in updating their laws and regulations to account for the technology. More than a year ago, the local lawmakers moved to bring virtual currency start-ups under the auspices of their regulations against money laundering.

The Identity of the Bitcoin Inventor Revealed

In other news related to digital currencies, the identity of the inventor of Bitcoin has been finally revealed and confirmed. Dr. Craig Steven Wright, a computer scientist from Australia, confirmed that he’s the one standing behind the name Satoshi Nakomoto and that he’s the inventor of this digital currency and block-chain technology.

In December 2015, many news media reported that Wright is the Bitcoin inventor in 2009 and the face behind the Satoshi pseudonym. Back then Wright didn’t confirm nor denied these reports, leaving people to speculate if Satoshi had been run to ground finally.

However, today Wright went public and confirmed that he’s the one behind the Satoshi mask. According to BBC, Wright had already confirmed his identity to big technology people by digitally signing messages via the private encryption figures associated with the Bitcoin blocks from 1 to 9, which is a strong proof of who is behind the Satoshi identity.