Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency, without a central bank or single administrator, that can be sent from user to user on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network without the need for intermediaries. Transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distributed ledger called a blockchain.
Bitcoin was invented in 2008 by an unknown person or group of people using the name Satoshi Nakamoto, and started in 2009 when its source code was released as open-source software.
Bitcoins are created as a reward for a process known as mining. They can be exchanged for other currencies, products, and services. As of February 2015, over 100,000 merchants and vendors accepted bitcoin as payment. Bitcoin can also be held as an investment.
According to research produced by Cambridge University in 2017, there are between 2.9 million and 5.8 million unique users using a cryptocurrency wallet, most of them using bitcoin.
NOTE: WARNING: Bitcoin is not currently legally recognized as a form of payment in Spain. As such, any transactions involving Bitcoin are not protected by Spanish consumer protection laws. Please proceed with caution when dealing with Bitcoin or any other virtual currency in Spain.
Due to the decentralized nature of the Bitcoin network, there is no standard set of rules or regulations governing its use. This means that whether or not Bitcoin is legal in your country depends on how your government perceives it.
In some countries it is legal, while in others it is not. There is also a gray area in between where the legality of Bitcoin is unclear.
In Spain, Bitcoin is considered to be legal. The country’s Central Bank recently released a report that discusses the legal status of cryptocurrencies in Spain and concludes that they are not currently subject to any specific regulation.
However, the report does caution that this could change in the future if cryptocurrencies become more widely used and accepted. For now, though, Bitcoin appears to be legal in Spain.
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Since the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the Cuban government has been a communist regime. The government owns all businesses and property on the island, and it tightly controls the economy. There is very little private enterprise in Cuba, and what little there is, is heavily regulated.
In Venezuela, the legal status of Bitcoin is complicated and still undefined. The authority on the matter is the National Superintendency of Cryptoassets and Related Activities (Sunacrip), which has issued various statements on Bitcoin, but has not yet released any official regulations. In general, it seems that Sunacrip takes a positive view of Bitcoin and is working on ways to regulate and legitimize it.
Since Bitcoin’s inception in 2009, its legal status has been a source of debate. Some countries have clear lAWS and regulations surrounding Bitcoin, while others have taken a more hands-off approach. Then there are those that fall somewhere in between.
As of 2017, the Philippines has not yet released any official stance on Bitcoin. However, that same year the country’s Central Bank issued a warning to the public about the risks associated with investing in cryptocurrencies. Then in 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released a statement saying that they “are not regulate[ing] virtual currencies as securities.” So while there is no official law or regulation surrounding Bitcoin in the Philippines, it appears that the government is taking a hands-off approach for now.
Mining Bitcoin is not illegal in Venezuela. The country has very liberal lAWS when it comes to cryptocurrencies, and the government has even been known to be supportive of Bitcoin mining. However, there have been some recent crackdowns on cryptocurrency exchanges and ICOs, so it is best to be aware of the current regulations before operating in Venezuela.
