Cryptocurrency Regulation Digest
Tags: Cryptocurrency News, Blockchain, Finance, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin

Cryptocurrencies: Regulating the new economy: a report by CNBC.

Blockchain innovation in Europe paper from EU Blockchain Forum: the organization’s findings regarding blockchain technology in Europe.

Priorities for the EU to address regarding the future of blockchain development:

Clarify Europe’s legal and regulatory framework, especially as it relates to the GDPR, and ensure that legitimate blockchain ventures can obtain bank accounts.

Focus on education and research, including ways to combat the shortage of blockchain talent.

Drive the adoption of blockchain in both the public and private sectors to create a domestic market for innovation in the space.

Promote collaboration within the blockchain space, particularly through partnerships between governments and companies.

Study the blockchain ecosystem and provide information to entrepreneurs and developers.

USA:The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced on Tuesday they are to begin accepting applications from fintech companies that wish to become national banks on Trustnodes.com: This decision will now allow fintech companies, such as Coinbase or others, to apply to one regulator and thus be in compliance with all money related regulations.

Queensland Backs Cryptocurrency Point-of-Sale Project for Tourism on Bitcoinmagazine.com: The Queensland government in Australia is backing a cryptocurrency point-of-sale system that officials believe will help boost tourism throughout the area. Thus far, they have given over $8 million in Australian dollars ($6 million USD) to roughly 70 different companies that will work to inspire innovation and create new ideas within the region’s travel space.

South Korea’s Financial Watchdog Calls for Integrated Blockchain System for Stock Trading on Cointelegraph.com: South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has advised local regulatory agencies and companies to work towards developing an integrated blockchain system for stock transactions, according to an official report.

The Future of Government on Blockchain in Consensys blog: From the July RISE Conference in Hong Kong, this is a transcription of a panel with experts from ConsenSys in law and international politics as they discuss the future of government + blockchain.

Front End Stage — Decentralized Web Summit 2018 — Day 2 03 by Internet Archive. Panel: Cryptocurrency and the Law.

New York Finance Watchdog ‘Fiercely Opposes’ Sandboxes for Fintech Firms on Coindesk.com: The chief of New York’s financial regulatory body said that the agency is “fiercely opposed” to regulatory sandboxes for fintech firms.

Not a Great Precedent”: Commissioner Discusses the SEC’s Latest ETF Decision on Bitcoinmagazine.com: When the SEC announced its rejection of the Winklevosses’ latest bitcoin ETF filing, the industry found itself reckoning with a problem on repeat: striving toward the goal of approval, another Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) proposal faced the SEC’s death knell. In the interview with Commissioner Peirce, Bitcoin Magazine delves further into her dissent, uncovering what the decision means for the future of regulation and what it will take for the SEC to give bitcoin ETFs/ETPs a nod of approval.

Proposed Philippine ICO Guidelines Would Treat Tokens As Securities By Default on Ethnews.com.

Intercontinental Exchange Announces Bakkt, a Global Platform and Ecosystem for Digital Assets on Businesswire.com: Launch of regulated, physical Bitcoin futures contract and warehouse planned for November 2018. Bakkt to draw on expertise from leading companies across regulated markets, risk management, technology and consumer experience including BCG, Intercontinental Exchange, Microsoft and Starbucks.

Thailand Central Bank Allows Financial Institutions To Engage In Crypto Activities on Blocktribune.com: The Bank of Thailand (BOT), the country’s central bank, has issued a circular giving all local financial institutions permission to engage in cryptocurrency activities.

Blockchain Adoption to Save Banks $27 Billion Annually by 2030: Research on Ccn.com:A study conducted by market intelligence firm Juniper Research indicates that by deploying blockchain technology financial institutions stand to generate savings amounting to over US$27 billion on cross-border settlement transactions before the end of 2030. On the basis of on-chain transactions, the costs will be reduced by over 11%.

Stripped Down Version Of Ohio Blockchain Bill Signed By Governor on Ethnews.com: An Ohio bill affirming the legal status of blockchain signatures and contracts has become law.

The Canadian Government is Studying Ethereum and Smart Contracts on Bitguru.co.uk: As the Government of Canada’s leading research organization, NRC has been at the forefront of analyzing some of the world’s breakthrough technologies and their effective usage in the past. Continuing from that tradition, it will now run a “live-trial” of Ethereum through its Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP).

Swiss banks open for cryptocurrency assets on Internationalinvestment.net: two Swiss banks are accepting money that was generated through business involving cryptocurrencies.

The JPEG Committee is “exploring Blockchain” — to put DRM into JPEG on Davidgerard.co.uk: This is great news for both DRM and Blockchain, because no work to implement DRM can ever be called first-rate — and Blockchain is the hype on top to really sell unusable rubbish that can’t possibly ever work. JPEG plans a “free public workshop during its 81st meeting in Vancouver on Tuesday October 16th.” More information will be available on jpeg.org in due course — and if any readers are in Vancouver then, I’d be delighted to hear how it goes.

Centre may allow crypto tokens for financial transactions on Dnaindia.com:The government is considering launching crypto tokens for financial transactions in the country, even as the existing ban on cryptocurrencies is likely to continue.

MIT BLOCKCHAIN SYSTEM MONITORS DATA USED BY POLICE: Law enforcement routinely secures orders requiring that tech companies hand over data, but the targets of those requests don’t always know if they have been under the microscope.

THE LARGEST BANK IN AUSTRALIA: BLOCKCHAIN WILL HELP DEVELOP WORLD TRADE:Common wealth Bank saw the future of global logistics in the distributed ledger technology.

The SEC Is Going to Postpone the Decision About Bitcoin ETF: ETF is a special exchange fund that will use BTC as a core asset. The fund will most likely attract large flows of money coming from major institutional investors.

JAPAN INCREASED MARKET PRESSURE. BITFLYER EXCHANGE BANNS CLIENTS’ ACCOUNTS: Trading platform is expected to ban accounts suspected in digital money manipulations. Japanese major cryptocurrency exchange bitFlyer announced its decision to suspend accounts accused of digital currency price manipulation. The necessary actions were taken after Financial Services Agency (FSA) requested to increase security for local trading platforms.

Breaking: World’s Biggest Stock Exchange Operator is Launching a Bitcoin Market: Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the owner of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), has announced that will list a physically-settled bitcoin futures contracts and form a new company whose mission is to make bitcoin a mainstream financial asset.

Dutch Central Bank Supports Blockchain, Not Cryptocurrencies: De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) has declared cryptocurrencies aren’t real money. However, it won’t stop its citizens from using it.

Coin Center Updates Its Securities Framework for Cryptocurrencies: Blockchain advocacy group Coin Center continues to believes some cryptocurrencies look like securities by law, and should be regulated as such. Peter Van Valkenburgh, the organization’s director of research, published a new report Friday arguing that certain cryptocurrencies follow the oft-cited Howey Test and act as investment contracts. As such, he wrote, they should be treated as securities.

World Bank Chooses CBA to Be the First and Sole Arranger of Blockchain Bond: Called bond-i, which stands for Blockchain Offered New Debt Instrument, the bond will become the first one to be managed completely with blockchain technology.

5,000 Merchants Can Now Accept Cryptocurrency Payments in Chile: Chilean cryptocurrency exchange Crypto MKT has recently announced that the country’s citizens can now buy products and services with cryptocurrency from over 5,000 merchants through a new integration with a crypto payment processor. According to the announcement, a partnership between Crypto MKT and online payments platform Flow.cl allowed the merchants to add cryptocurrency payment options through a platform called CryptoCompra.com.

Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash And Ethereum Go To Washington: Cryptocurrencies, namely bitcoin, bitcoin cash and ethereum, are becoming accepted in the Washington D.C. halls of power — evidenced by the member of Congress and the chair of the House Judiciary Committee Bob Goodlatte’s crypto holdings.

Blockchain Subcommittee Proposed By Spain’s Left-Wing Political Coalition: Unidos Podemos, a left-wing electoral alliance in Spain, has called on the government to study the benefits of blockchain technology.

ICOs Can ‘Prove Their Legitimacy’ Under New Crowdfunding Rules, Says EU Lawmaker: The European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs is working on new crowdfunding regulations that could extend to some initial coin offerings (ICOs).

Communist Party of China Releases Primer on Blockchain Technology: According to the statement, the book by China’s Communist Party provides a scientific description of key blockchain features, its origin, future application scenarios, as well as major challenges associated with the adoption of the new technology.

India’s Crypto Regulations Delayed, Government Considers ‘Crypto Tokens’: The Indian government previously planned to submit the proposal for crypto regulations in July. However, a senior official has revealed that the regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies in India has been delayed and will likely be ready by the year’s end. Meanwhile, the government is reportedly considering “launching crypto tokens for financial transactions”.