The Scaling Bitcoin Workshop Hong Kong Wrap-Up

The Scaling Bitcoin workshops are gearing up for their second phase. After the initial conference in Montreal in September, Bitcoin's engineering and academic community will gather in Hong Kong later this week to discuss how best to scale up the network to allow for more than a handful of transactions per second. To get a feel for what to expect from the workshop, Bitcoin Magazine spoke with Pindar Wong, co-founder of Hong Kong's first licensed ISP and the Scaling Bitcoin Hong Kong planning committee chair, and MIT Digital Currency Initiative's Neha Narula, Scaling Bitcoin Hong Kong....

Marketed as a way to discuss in person major issues regarding the Bitcoin technology, the Scaling Bitcoin Workshop was attended by many of Bitcoin's most prominent developers to discuss technical issues facing the digital currency earlier this month. Now, they look forward to a similar event, "Phase II," in Hong Kong in December. The Montreal conference was held under Chatham House Rules, meaning, while the entire conference is transcribed, who said what will not be known. "Many [were] interested or at least willing to accept a 'short term bump,' a hard fork to modify block size limit....

There’s been quite a bit of discussion concerning the block size debate again with the recent Scaling Bitcoin event in Hong Kong. Many BIP proposals and concepts were brought to the public’s eye by a few engineers working on Bitcoin’s code. One of the ideas called “Segregated Witness” was brought to the table at the conference by developer Pieter Wuille,....

Hong Kong is one of the most important financial centres of the world, but with limited space and high demand, property in Hong Kong has always been in short supply. Simplifying home ownership in Hong Kong is therefore a prime concern for the Hong Kong government, which has undertaken a number of measures in the last few years to make home ownership both affordable and easy. The Nikkei Asian Review reported that as recently as early November, the Hong Kong government raised stamp duty to cool down the boiling Hong Kong housing market. This measure of the government was mainly aimed at....

Cryptocurrency regulation in Hong Kong is undergoing changes. The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) is reportedly introducing a new licensing system to regulate all crypto exchanges operating in Hong Kong. Hong Kong’s New Crypto Regulation The CEO of the SFC, Ashley Alder, talked about implementing a new cryptocurrency regulatory framework at Hong Kong Fintech Week on Tuesday. All cryptocurrency trading platforms operating in Hong Kong or targeting local investors will be required to apply for a license with the SFC, Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) reported. “Later....