Crypto News
- A joint report released by the British Business Federation Authority (BBFA), venture capital fund, Novum Insights, and cryptocurrency exchange, TodaQ, urges that UK regulators use caution in instituting far-reaching regulation. BBFA Chief Executive, Patrick Curry, said to Cointelegraph in regards to UK crypto regulation, “It is a very blunt instrument approach and I haven’t seen this in other countries.” This news comes after Members of Parliament that sit on the UK Treasury Committee called for increased cryptocurrency regulation to protect investors and urged the Financial Conduct Authority to supervise cryptocurrencies.
- Bitstamp, a large cryptocurrency exchange, has been acquired by NXMH, an investment firm based in Belgium and owned by NXC, a South Korean gaming-focused conglomerate. Signed last Thursday, the acquisition still leaves Bitstamp CEO Nejc Kodric as a minority owner and allows the CEO to continue running Bitstamp’s operations. Pantera Capital, an early backer of Bitstamp, will also retain a 6% ownership stake. Although Bitstamp users will not see immediate changes in the platform’s services, the exchange has a long-term pre-existing roadmap for improvements that NXMH agreed to stick to during negotiations.
- Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, Coincheck, saw its revenue fall 66% in CY3Q2018. Acquired by Monex Group, Inc. on April 16th, 2018, Coincheck is the notable Japanese cryptocurrency exchange that was hacked for USD$532 million of digital assets in January 2018. According to Monex CEO, Oki Matsumoto, Coincheck is still awaiting a license from Japanese regulators to operate as a cryptocurrency exchange in the country. Coincheck’s quarterly report discusses the revenue loss, saying, “Since service suspension in January 2018, Coincheck only allowed existing customers to sell their cryptocurrency. The limited revenue stream resulted in segment loss of 0.6bn yen (USD$5.3 million). Coincheck has improved governance, internal controls, and internal audits, aiming for full-service resumption.”
- Jason Hsu, known as Taiwan’s, “Crypto Congressmen,” is continuing to push forward-thinking regulation concerning tech in Taiwan as he is proposing new rules surrounding token sales. This past Friday, Hsu proposed a slew of policy recommendations geared towards assisting cryptocurrency startups -- notably, one of the recommendations would see the country’s Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) establish a new business category for cryptocurrency firms while another recommendation would see new legal framework established for security tokens. Last week, the Taipei Times reported that Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission would see standards established for initial coin offerings (ICOs) by June of next year.
- MapleChange, a small Canadian cryptocurrency exchange, was hacked this weekend resulting in the loss of all consumer-owned funds. According to a series of tweets this weekend, hackers exploited a bug in the exchange allowing them to withdraw the entirety of consumer-owned funds from the exchange. Maplechange has suspended users’ accounts in light of the events. MapleChange has noted that it will open wallets at some point in the future to refund users as with as much money as possible.
- OKEx, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges by daily trading volume, is delisting more than 50 cryptocurrency trading pairs from its platform due to weak performance. As per an announcement published on October 25th, 2018, OKEx will delist these cryptocurrency trading pairs due to weak liquidity and poor trading volume. OKEx specified in their announcement that only the indicated trading pairs would be delisted, and not the cryptocurrencies themselves. Andy Cheung, Head of Operations at OKEx, tweeted this weekend, “Getting listed is not final. Maintaining a good performance is the key to success.”
- SP Group, a large utility company based in Singapore, is launching a blockchain-powered renewable energy certificate (REC) marketplace, as per a Monday company press release. In discussing the blockchain-powered REC marketplace, Samuel Tan, Chief Digital Officer of SP Group, said, “Through blockchain technology, we enable companies to trade in renewable energy certificates conveniently, seamlessly, and securely, helping them achieve greener business operations and meet their sustainability targets.”
- The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is recommending that all of its members take action to control the exchange of cryptocurrencies, their storage, and other crypto-related activities. Founded in 1989, the FATF is an intergovernmental organization based in Paris with a directive of establishing standards to fight money laundering and other illegal financial activities. While speaking to Russian news outlet, Izvestia, Vice President of the Federal Financial Monitoring Service of the Russian Federation, Pavel Livadny, expressed a desire to institute controls on crypto transactions of more than 600,000 rubles (USD$9,120). Earlier in October, the FATF made changes to its standards relating to digital currencies and businesses dealing with cryptocurrencies.
- Ukraine’s Economic Development and Trade Ministry has launched a state policy to reclassify and legalize crypto-related activities, as per Ukrainian news agency, Ukrinform. According to a statement issued by the Economic Development and Trade Ministry of Ukraine, the purpose of the state policy is to, “create understandable conditions for conducting activities in the field of virtual assets and virtual currencies,” and to usher in, “adoption of the concept of a state policy.” Ukrinform details in its report that the state policy will be completed by 2021 in two separate stages.
- US household cleaning supplies manufacturer, SC Johnson, and environmental organization, Plastic Bank, are opening multiple plastic recycling centers in Indonesia that will use blockchain technology to reward users. SC Johnson recently revealed data that indicates five Asian countries are responsible for more than 55% of the world’s plastic leaking into the ocean -- these five countries are China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand. SC Johnson and Plastic Bank believe that blockchain technology can be used to distribute tokens to individuals based on recycling efforts, not only helping to combat ocean pollution but potentially reducing the poverty level of Indonesia itself.
Sources:
r/https://cointelegraph.com/news/uk-treasury-committee-calls-for-end-to-wild-west-situation-in-crypto-market
r/https://cointelegraph.com/news/we-should-not-scurry-to-keep-pace-with-fintech-says-cftc-commissioner
r/https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-exchange-bitstamp-confirms-sale-to-gaming-group-nxc/
r/https://cointelegraph.com/news/hacked-crypto-exchange-coincheck-posts-66-percent-lower-revenue-in-q3-2018
r/https://www.coindesk.com/cryptocurrency-exchange-coincheck-reports-over-5-million-loss-in-q3/
r/https://www.coindesk.com/taiwanese-lawmaker-proposes-new-business-category-for-crypto-companies/
r/https://www.coinspeaker.com/canadian-crypto-exchange-maplechange-gets-hacked-all-the-funds-gone/
r/https://cointelegraph.com/news/worlds-largest-crypto-exchange-okex-to-delist-50-trading-pairs-due-to-weak-performance
r/https://cointelegraph.com/news/singapore-major-utility-company-launches-blockchain-based-solar-energy-marketplace
r/https://cointelegraph.com/news/russian-regulator-tells-financial-action-task-force-members-to-control-crypto-circulation
r/https://cointelegraph.com/news/ukraine-economic-development-and-trade-ministry-launches-state-policy-to-legalize-crypto
r/https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-cleaning-supplies-firm-to-open-blockchain-rewards-based-recycling-centers-in-indonesia
No comments:
Post a Comment