Asia and Australia
Welcome to another weekly blockchain news roundup from around the world. Here we present to you all the latest Bitcoin news continent by continent and country by country.
Malaysia
New Amendments for Digital Asset Markets: Malaysian financial regulator, the Security Commission announced amendments to its Guidelines on Recognized Markets, bringing digital asset and crypto trading at par with equity crowdfunding and peer to peer financing.
Japan and South Korea
A Third of all Crypto Stolen in the World was from Japan and South Korea: A CipherTrace report has revealed that out of the USD 1.7 billion in crypto theft in 2018, a major portion was stolen from Japan and South Korea. Nearly one-third of the theft (USD 500 million) was from a single hack of Coincheck exchange in Tokyo.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Korea has said that the launch of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in the country could threaten the existence of commercial banks. The report suggests that with blockchain based digital wallets acting as accounts for the central bank, people would simply not have the need to open bank accounts in commercial banks, leading to their ultimate demise.
On the other side of the sea, Japan’s financial regulator has released data on inquiries made in the last quarter of 2018. The data shows a near half decline in inquiries received by the financial regulator.
India
Indian Authorities Unsure about Impact of Cryptocurrencies: The Indian authorities are again at a confusion regarding the impacts of cryptocurrency on the economy. According to one report, they are worried that digital tokens could lead to a destabilization of the local Rupee.
With the debate taken to the highest levels in the financial and legislative arms of the government, a right to information report has revealed that the Indian government is looking outside its borders for advise on how to regulate the crypto sector.
In a publicly released information, Canadian crypto exchange, QuadrigaCX, has announced that the owner, Mr Cotten, died in the Indian city of Jaipur. The death occurred in a hospital, where he was brought in critical condition, caused due to his ongoing Crohn’s disease. The death occurred last December, but only now has it been made public.
Iran
Gold Backed Crypto Reportedly Launched by Iran: With reports surfacing for quite some time on the Persian nation developing its own national cryptocurrency, a small group of Iranian banks have teamed up with a blockchain startup to launch a gold-backed cryptocurrency. Dubbed the PayMon, nearly a billion tokens will be issued in the first stage.
Philippines
New Crypto Rules Set to be Enforced: A new set of rules are ready to be rolled out by the regulatory body, Cagayan Economic Zone Authority, in the Philippines. The first phase of the rules will be targeting crypto projects with crypto assets less than USD 5 million.
Australia
Australian Watchdog Registers 250 Exchanges: Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), the Australian financial regulator is keeping its lead in the crypto sphere with nearly 250 registered exchanges. With the latest license to operate a digital asset crypto exchange, CoinZoom joins the ever-increasing number of approved exchanges in the continental nation.
Australian Real Estate Preferring Cryptocurrencies: Australian real estate is also one of those business sectors that prefer operating with cryptocurrency. A regional housing report stated one the largest real estate agent claiming “We are happy to accept Bitcoin or any other major cryptocurrency instead of Australian dollars”. Even in the slump that has seen Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies see a heavy crash in prices, it seems the real estate market is just as more interested in accepting digital currencies.
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