Weekly Updates: Latest Crypto News (March 19–25)
By: Hanna Arepieva
Tags: Cryptocurrency Investment, Cryptocurrency, Crypto, Cryptomarket, Blockchain

Google and Microsoft developments, G20 summit discussion, and a new bill in Russia in TEOZ Weekly Updates.

Stay tuned!

Canadian fund group will launch cryptocurrency trading

TMX Group consists of a number of companies, including Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX Venture Exchange, TSX Alpha Exchange, The Canadian Depository for Securities, Montréal Exchange, Canadian Derivatives Clearing Corporation, Trayport, and others. The market giant caters all market needs in terms of investment: listing new companies, trading in stocks and bonds, clearing, depositary services, developing technical solutions, storing data sets, brokerage services. On March 22, a group of companies announced the planned broker launch, which will focus on bitcoin and ethereum. In the future, the list of cryptocurrency instruments will expand. The project will be organized through a subsidiary of Shorcan Digital Currency Network (Shorcan DCN) in partnership with the financial start-up Paycase Financial, which specializes in decentralized payment solutions.

Let’s look at the mood of the company leaders, citing their opinions about the partnership:

“We are excited to enter into this agreement with Paycase, an industry leader with an innovative and entrepreneurial spirit,” said Peter Conroy, President, Shorcan. “We look forward to putting in the necessary collaborative work in the days ahead as we strive to make Shorcan DCN a lasting success.”

John Lee, Managing Director, Enterprise Innovation & Product Development, TMX Group added: “Shorcan DCN represents a significant step forward in the execution of TMX Group’s digital strategy. As new technologies continue to reshape the global financial industry, we continue to explore new ways to evolve our business to address client needs in both traditional and non-traditional markets.”

One can say with confidence that another bridge is being created, connecting the world of traditional finance and the cryptocurrency industry. The influx of new money will gradually increase the market capitalization.

Source: https://www.tmx.com/newsroom?id=650&lang=en

Microsoft began to integrate the Azure cloud service in the Ethereum blockchain

Azure offers a number of technical solutions that allow developing highly loaded applications. Last week there was an information on the official Azure blog about the integration of the Ethereum blockchain in cloud services. The integration will improve the blockchain availability, make the development process easier, and provide monitoring and operational support. For developers, the company has also compiled a separate manual to help understand the intricacies of integration. Microsoft notes the increased interest in the blockchain solutions. Many large companies are studying the applicability of blockchain solutions to their sphere, Microsoft makes advances and simplifies the process of integrating such solutions. Market leaders are working to improve the blockchain technology. It is possible to say for sure that the market will develop further.

Source: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/improved-multi-member-blockchain-networks-now-available-on-azure/

Google is working on developments in the field of blockchain technology

So far, there are more rumors than facts around the news. The only thing known for sure is that the IT giant is working on blockchain technology application in its services. In particular, the company develops its own blockchain that will allow third parties to implement and verify transactions, and users to quickly and reliably transfer electronic data. We believe that Google is still constrained by legislative uncertainty in the industry, so it is in no hurry to give the public its achievements. With the improvement of the blockchain sector legislation, we can see a huge wave of news from the existing technological giants, who are currently working on developments internally. It should also be noted that Google is actively investing in the cryptocurrency industry through its subsidiaries. The subsidiary venture company GV has already invested in the Blockchain wallet, the Ripple company, the LedgerX cryptocurrency platform, the Veem decentralized payment provider and other projects. We expect that the giant will continue developing in the chosen direction.

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-21/google-is-said-to-work-on-its-own-blockchain-related-technology

News on the cryptocurrency regulation

The G20 discussed the cryptocurrency regulation

The news about the cryptocurrency discussion is placed on the main page of the G20 summit website. In general, the G20 leaders treat the cryptocurrency emergence positively and see new economic opportunities for increasing the global trading volume, increasing investments and creating new jobs. New opportunities are always new threats. That is why the summit participants agreed to the gradual development of rules on the cautious regulation of the industry. Most likely, the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) regulation standards will be developed. At the moment, the cryptocurrency will be attributed to the asset class, not currencies. This may mean that the trade will be taxed. Also, economists noted that cryptocurrency assets currently occupy less than 1% of global assets and do not pose a threat to the global financial system. We will closely follow the next meetings of the G20 leaders.

Source: https://www.g20.org/en/news/g20-seeks-strengthen-contribution-trade-worlds-economies

A new bill in Russia

On March 20, the lower house of parliament issued a bill on digital financial assets. The document defines basic concepts of the cryptocurrency industry. For example, “digital financial asset is property in electronic form, created using cryptographic means. The ownership of this property is certified by making digital entries in the register of digital transactions. Digital financial assets include cryptocurrency, token. Digital financial assets are not a legal means of payment within the territory of the Russian Federation. “ Or the second example: “A smart contract is a contract in electronic form, the performance of rights and obligations is carried out by automatically performing digital transactions in a distributed register of digital transactions in a strictly defined sequence and upon the occurrence of certain circumstances.” In total, the document defines 14 concepts. Key features of the bill:

Digital assets are recognized as property and are not a legal means of payment within the territory of the Russian Federation;

Exchange of digital assets into rubles is allowed only through a limited list of exchange operators. They can be brokers, dealers, legal entities that carry out trust management activities, exchanges. The final list is approved by the Bank of Russia in consultation with the government;

Also, the exchange operator opens digital wallets to clients and is engaged in the procedure of full identity identification;

ICO will be regulated. The standards have yet to be developed. While this item is designated as “features of the release of tokens.”

The maximum amount of participation in the ICO for the investor will be set by the Bank of Russia.

It should be emphasized that this is only the bill. The document still has to cover a lot of ground before becoming a full-fledged law.

Source: http://asozd2c.duma.gov.ru/addwork/scans.nsf/ID/E426461949B66ACC4325825600217475/$FILE/419059-7_20032018_419059-7.PDF?OpenElement

The Bureau of the US Fiscal Service published five tips for blockchain technology

Employees of the Bureau state that there are a lot of hype around the technology. However, in their experience, the blockchain can improve many processes. Before implementing the technology, take the following steps:

Determine if Blockchain is a potential solution. Understand the pros and cons. Update business processes taking into account the introduction of new technology; Build a project team to test the technology. Include enthusiasts and skeptics into your team; How will the introduction of technology affect other units? It is necessary to coordinate the actions with external users.

We see a perfect example when the state structure independently conducts experiments on technology, and not just distributes regulatory orders from scratch.

Source: https://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/fsservices/gov/fit/blockchain.htm

The TOP-10 cryptocurrencies this week

For several weeks we have been observing the constancy of the first five and the permanent rotation of the lower part of the table. This time EOS became the leader, showing a growth of 40%. In general, the composition of TOP-10 remained unchanged.

Russian version: https://goo.gl/Dj7k8n