Worth Investment

Japan’s self-regulatory exchange association may require members to set limits on maximum trading volumes for clients with “small assets.” The Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA) will obligate its member exchanges to place limits on the trading activity of some clients, Cointelegraph Japan reports today, July 28. The self-regulatory body has reportedly established a policy of to require its member crypto exchanges to place maximum limits on the volumes traded by the exchanges’ customers. The move reportedly aims to prevent investors with “small assets” from suffering heavy losses and facing problems with basic daily expenses. The report does not specifically define “small assets,” nor does it specify the exact limits to be placed. According to the report, member crypto exchanges will be able to choose from two options for how they establish trading limits. The first option proposes a universal ceiling that implies establishing one fixed maximum limit for all “sma...

New Gallup poll finds most U.S. investors will not be investing in the cryptocurrency any time soon, though there is still interest. The results of a Wells Fargo/Gallup poll published July 27 finds that only two percent of U.S. investors own Bitcoin, but 26 percent are intrigued by it. The online survey was conducted May 7-14, 2018 amongst  U.S. investors with more than $10,000 in stocks, bonds or mutual funds. The results show that the overwhelming majority of investors who have already heard of Bitcoin will not be investing in the leading cryptocurrency any time soon, with 72 percent saying they “have no interest in ever buying Bitcoin.” According to the data from the poll, even though 96 percent of investors had heard of Bitcoin, “only about three in 10 investors (29%) say they know something about digital currencies,” with 67 percent saying they have heard of them but don’t know much about them. Even though the initial intention behind Bitcoin involves its use as a means...

The crypto industry’s go-to messenger app Telegram launches an encrypted personal identification tool, Telegram Passport. The crypto and blockchain industry’s go-to encrypted messenger app Telegram has released a personal identification authorization tool, according to an official statement published July 26. The tool, dubbed Telegram Passport, reportedly encrypts a user’s personal ID information and let’s users securely share their ID data with third parties, which the Telegram post elaborates on as “finance, ICOs, etc.” According to the post, users’ ID data will currently be stored on the Telegram cloud, but “In the future, all Telegram Passport data will move to a decentralized cloud.” The new tool is currently integrated with digital payment operator ePayments, which Telegram refers to in their post as the “first electronic payments system to support registration and verification” via the new tool. EPayments confirmed the integration on its Telegram channel, noting that “ve...

TransferGo claims to be first remittance service to launch cryptocurrency trading. UK-based service TransferGo has reportedly become the world’s first remittance operator to offer crypto trading, Bloomberg reported July 27. TransferGo now lets customers buy and sell five major cryptocurrencies –– Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Litecoin (LTC). According to TransferGo CEO and founder Daumantas Dvilinskas, the crypto trading option was launched “in response to demand from our user base”: “With over 4,000 users signing up in the first few hours we can see there is a strong demand in the market for a simple and reliable investment and trading solution.” Founded in 2012, TransferGo currently has “over 600,000” registered users and is partnered with thirty banks. A remittance is the transfer of money from a foreign worker to another individual across international borders. In 2017, global remittance flows to developing countries reached ...

sponsored A blockchain-based company is creating a network of sports and health centers where members can receive discounts if they pay using cryptocurrency. A new blockchain-driven company has bold plans to establish a global network of health centers designed to help people lead active and longer lives. Although life expectancies around the world are soaring, BitVit argues that many of these extra years are dominated by sickness for too many years. Research cited in its white paper suggests German women can currently expect to live until they are 83, but only 72 of those years will be in good health. For men the average lifespan is 78 years, with nine of them blighted by sickness. BitVit hopes to offer a “holistic solution” which would involve creating an intellectual exchange among industry experts and scientists, with their expertise then being shared with the public. It is hoped that future generations will be “more knowledgeable and healthier as a result.” At the heart o...

July’s data collecting deadline for the G20 has come, and they were greeted with a host of information from a number of different committees and commissions. The G20, after it was called upon by France’s finance minister Bruno Le Maire to have a public debate about cryptocurrencies at the G20 Summit in Buenos Aires, made strides towards a global front for regulation of digital currencies. Those strides could however be only considered baby steps as, at the conclusion of a meeting of the finance ministers in March it was decided that July would be the deadline for “ very specific recommendations .” The recommendations were not about what to regulate, but rather, what data is needed. Now, with the July deadline come and gone, the G20 has reiterated its March commitments , but has also decided to move to a new deadline of October where it will await the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) clarification on how its standards apply to what it calls crypto-assets. The path to taking cr...

The Thai Bond Market Association plans to boost secondary bond market liquidity through a blockchain-based registrar bond service platform. The Thai Bond Market Association (TBMA) will deploy a blockchain-powered solution on its registrar service platform, local news agency Bangkok Post reports July 28. The new registrar service platform, which is scheduled to be introduced this year, intends to provide a faster bond certificate issuance and, in turn, boost the liquidity of the secondary market, according to TBMA president Tada Phutthitada. While market liquidity has been growing, the issuance of bond certificates still remains slow, which may cause serious limitations to the growth of corporate bonds in the secondary market. According to Mr. Tada, the platform will reduce the bond issuance time from current 7-15 days to 3-4 days. "We are trying to accommodate the market to grow without risks that may cause limitations.” The TBMA president revealed that the the new regis...

On July 18, two seperate Congress hearings on cryptocurrencies were held. July 18 proved to be an important day for the crypto industry, as two separate U.S. Congress hearings centring the matter were held: one by the House Agriculture Committee , and the other one by the House Financial Services Committee . The two stroke completely different tones: while the latter echoed the most conservative sentiments regarding the realm of crypto (with the somewhat obligatory call for a blanket ban), the former seemed more positive, as the board of experts provided the regulators with collected considerations bothering the industry. Nevertheless it’s the House Agriculture Committee hearing we should focus our attention. Participants The panel of witnesses was comprised of six industry representatives and academics: Joshua Fairfield . Law and technology scholar specializing in digital property, electronic contract, big data privacy, and virtual communities. William Donald Bain Family Profess...

The city of Liverpool will utilize blockchain tech to cut carbon impact by 40% in the city by 2030. The Liverpool City Council (LCC) announced it will be using blockchain tech to mitigate the city’s climate impact, local news outlet edie.net reported July 19. A tweet from the LCC explains that the effort to reduce the city’s climate impact is a bid to become the “world’s first climate-positive city by 2020.” The LCC will partner with the Poseidon Foundation to conduct a year-long trial of a blockchain platform that will facilitate the security and exchange of tokenized carbon credits with the goal of offsetting the city’s climate impact by more than 110 percent. On its way to a 110 percent offset, edie.net reports that the LCC has the benchmarks of reducing the city’s climate impact 40 percent by 2030 and is already installing 15,000 energy-saving LED streetlights across 2,000 streets in order to reduce streetlight energy consumption by 82 percent. The city also has a history of...

San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has formed a political action committee San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange and wallet provider Coinbase has created its own political action committee (PAC), according to documents made public today, July 20. In the U.S. , PACs are organizations that pool campaign contributions from members with similar policy and political goals and subsequently donate them to political campaigns for or against candidates, legislation, or ballot initiatives. PACs must register with the Federal Election Commission.  Following the 2010 Supreme Court case of Citizens United v. FEC, PACs became the subject of some controversy, as some see them as means for corporate or union donors to contribute massive sums to political campaigns. In Citizens United, provisions that prohibited corporate or union political expenditure in political campaigns were overturned, making it legal for such entities to spend money from their general treasuri...

The Financial Stability Council of Ukraine supported a regulatory concept for crypto regulation, recognizing cryptocurrencies and tokens as financial instruments The Financial Stability Council of Ukraine has supported a concept for crypto regulations , Timur Khromaev, head of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (SSMCS) reported in a Facebook post July 20. According to Khromaev, the concept involves recognizing cryptocurrencies and tokens as financial instruments, establishes the roles and functions of governmental bodies in regulating those instruments, in addition to licensing transaction participants, defining information disclosure conditions, and other factors. The Financial Stability Council comprises of the Governor the National Bank of Ukraine, the Minister of Finance, heads of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission and the National Commission for State Regulation of Financial Services Markets, and Managing Director of the Deposit Guarantee ...

BBVA has signed a new blockchain-powered loan, having completed the first global blockchain-based pilot on loans and corporate finance. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria ( BBVA ) has signed a new blockchain -based loan with civil engineering firm ACS Group , according to the BBVA’s official statement July 19. BBVA, a multinational Spanish banking group, signed an agreement with ACS to provide a long-term bilateral corporate loan of €100 million ($117 million). The new blockchain-powered loan contract will reportedly boost the efficiency in financial processes of the company, allowing for better transparency and traceability of contractual process. Settling the loan on a blockchain allows both parties to independently monitor the stages of a contract, as well as the conditions. The pilot also includes digitization of the negotiating process with the management time expected to be reduced “from days to hours.” In April, 2018, BBVA successfully carried out  “the first global c...

Blockshow Americas 2018 is bringing the blockchain world together to focus on pressing issues that affect the emerging industry. Blockshow, a major international blockchain event powered by Cointelegraph, announced the new conference Blockshow Americas 2018 , which will be held in Las Vegas August 20-21, 2018. The event comes on the heels of the successful  Blockshow Europe 2018 in Germany in May 2018.  According to the Blockshow team, the upcoming conference will be focused on the crucial questions that affect the blockchain community — governmental initiatives, insights from central banks, and the evolution of law and regulations. Blockshow Americas will be held on the premises of the Venetian, one of the most famous hotels in Las Vegas. More than 80 international speakers — from fintech, blockchain and cryptocurrency — are expected at the event. The list of speakers include Alex Mashinsky , founder of the Celsius Network, a serial entrepreneur and venture investor; Mike...

The Maltese Financial Services Authority has told blockchain companies to wait until approval of the new legal framework before filing requests for authorization. The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) said in a statement that blockchain companies have to wait until a recently passed framework comes into force before applying for approvals and authorizations, news outlet Times of Malta reported July 20. In a statement issued today, the MFSA said it is developing a new framework that will back recently-passed blockchain laws , so operators must wait for a public announcement from the agency before filing a request for approvals and authorizations. The Virtual Financial Assets Act (VFAA), which the Parliament of Malta passed on July 5, will regulate distributed ledger technology (DLT). With the legislation, Malta reportedly becomes the first country in the world to provide legal certainty for blockchain companies. According to Times of Malta, in the past weeks the MSFA has...

CME revealed that the average daily volume for Bitcoin futures grew by 93 percent in Q2 over the previous quarter in 2018, with open interest up 58 percent. Bitcoin (BTC) futures average daily volume (ADV) at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange ( CME ) increased by 93 percent in the second quarter over the first quarter of 2018, the company revealed in a tweet July 20. CME also stated that the rate of open interest (OI) or the number of open contracts on Bitcoin futures has exceeded 2,400, which amounted to 58 percent increase in Q1. CME Bitcoin Futures ADV and OI in Q1 2018 and Q2 2018. Source: CMEGroup One of the biggest global exchanges, CME Group launched Bitcoin futures trading on Dec. 17, following the launch of BTC futures by the Chicago Board Options Exchange ( CBOE ), the largest U.S. options exchange, on Dec. 10. In May, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco published an Economic Letter alleging that the Bitcoin price decline following the $20,000 all-time hig...

Cryptocurrency cloud mining service HashFlare has stopped mining services on current SHA-256 contracts due to difficulties with generating profits. Cloud cryptocurrency mining service HashFlare announced July 20, that it is stopping mining services and shutting down hardware on current SHA-256 contracts due to difficulty generating revenue. HashFlare is a cloud cryptocurrency mining platform founded in 2013. Cloud mining is a system where a user purchases a portion of the mining power of hardware hosted and owned by a cloud mining service provider. The service provider configures the hardware, maintains uptime and selects the most efficient and reliable pools. The decision to discontinue mining maintenance is reportedly the result of difficulties for the company to turn a profit amid market fluctuations. According to the HashFlare’s statement, for over a month the amounts for contract payments were lower than service fees, resulting in zero accruals to users’ balances. As of Ju...

Blockchain technology is breaking into new sectors as the telecommunications industry begins to feel out its potential for phones and communication. The emergence of blockchain technology has piqued the interest of a number of different sectors across global society. From finance , politics , economics , automotive and technology, blockchain is starting to take root. It is now being seen that communications could be the latest sector to benefit from this technological revolution. There has been a predictive report that came out on July 11 from Marketwatch that is suggesting that blockchain technology will contribute as much as $1 billion to the telecommunications sector in the next five years. When delving deeper into the growth that is already being seen by the telecommunications sector thanks to blockchain — as well as the move toward things like blockchain-powered phones — it is actually an unsurprising number. If something like the automotive industry is already experiment...

Coinbase has reportedly attracted a $20 billion hedge fund for its custody service. Major U.S . crypto wallet and exchange Coinbase has reportedly secured a $20 billion hedge fund for its custody service, Business Insider reports July 19. Coinbase launched “Coinbase Custody,” its digital assets custodian solution for large institutional investors, on July 2. The new service is notably secured through an independent broker, Electronic Transaction Clearing (ETC), that operates in compliance with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ). People familiar with the matter told Business Insider that Coinbase had both secured the unnamed $20 billion hedge fund and is also seeking partnerships with other large hedge funds. The anonymous sources also revealed that Coinbase is planning to offer margin financing, possibly by the end of the year, that would permit institutional investors to borrow to trade. Robert Hockett, a professor of law at Cornell University, told Business I...