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Jack Ma has said that blockchain and other advanced technologies still need to prove they can help evolve society in a “greener and more inclusive” direction

Jack Ma, the founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, has said that blockchain and other advanced technologies still need to prove they can help evolve society in a “greener and more inclusive” direction. His remarks came as part of a keynote delivered at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in China September 17, as local outlet cnBeta reports.

While Ma’s keynote focused on the challenges and common (mis)perceptions surrounding the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) in particular, he reserved a place for blockchain and internet of things (IoT) technology as technological watersheds in the new “data age,” arguing that:

“The data age is major opportunity for manufacturers to reform the industry. But blockchain and IoT will be meaningless tech unless they can promote the transformation of the manufacturing industry, and the evolution of the society towards a greener and more inclusive direction.”

Jack Ma, who now plans to go into retirement, has a net worth of $36.9 billion, according to Forbes. The overwhelmingly popular mobile payment app Alipay, run by Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial, is said to have 450 million users.

Blockchain is no new topic for the e-commerce titan, as Ma has previously this year rebuttedclaims that the technology is merely a “bubble,” emphasizing that he has been researching blockchain for years and believes strongly in its potential to address issues of data privacy and security for society at all levels.

Indeed as early as summer 2016, Ant Financial, introduced blockchain technology to improve accountability in its work with the Chinese charity industry, going on to recruit blockchain expertsin the company at large the following year.

Fresh data published late August revealed that Alibaba had sealed the top first globally on a new list that ranked entities by the number of blockchain-related patents filed to date; the e-commerce conglomerate has filed a staggering 90 such patents, outflanking even IBM.

Nonetheless, Alibaba has strictly complied with Beijing’s recently redoubled efforts to clamp down on decentralized cryptocurrencies, with Alipay announcing it would block any account that uses its network to transact in Bitcoin (BTC) over-the-counter (OTC) trade.

Ant Financial has also reportedly said it plans to conduct a “risk prevention” program intended to educate users about the dangers of false crypto-related “propaganda.”

Also read: Ripple’s Sagar Sarbhai has said he believes that blockchain technology and crypto assets are now being tackled more holistically by policymakers

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Ripple’s Sagar Sarbhai has said he believes that blockchain technology and crypto assets are now being tackled more holistically by policymakers

Ripple’s Sagar Sarbhai has said he believes that blockchain technology and crypto assets are now being tackled more holistically by policymakers, in an interview on CNBC Markets today, September 17.

Sarbhai, who is head of regulatory relations for Asia-Pacific and the Middle East at Ripple, said he thinks that regulators are no longer taking a compartmentalized approach that takes distributed ledger technologies (DLT) such as blockchain in isolation from crypto assets themselves.

As the interview’s subtext implies, regulators have historically approached decentralized cryptocurrencies with circumspection – or otherwise outright hostility – while remaining more receptive to the potential benefits of blockchain. The prevailing sentiment used to be that the technology can bring major advantages to legacy systems across diverse industries, as well as to the world of of finance.

But Sarbhai today said he believes the tide is changing:

“A couple of years ago the narrative was blockchain good, crypto bad. But I think what we’re now seeing is that more and more regulators are taking the whole space in one conjunction [sic]. You cannot have runways built without airplanes… [T]hat narrative is thankfully changing and policymakers are recognizing there is a strong benefit that digital (crypto) assets bring.”

Sarbhai identified some of these benefits as improving financial inclusion and “removing barriers to commerce.” He substantiated his claims by pointing to recent developments in Thailand, which has provided a robust regulatory framework for crypto assets.

In the U.S. context, Sarbhai countered concerns that Ripple’s native token, XRP, is likely to come under a security classification – as several high-profile ongoing lawsuits allege.

He pointed to the open-source protocol of the XRP ledger and its independence from the corporation itself, emphasizing that Ripple controls only 7 percent of the validator nodesoperative on the network. He further argued that XRP investors do not secure a stake or shareholder-like position when they purchase the asset, and emphasized that countries such as Australia, Philippines and Thailand have therefore all classified XRP as a commodity.

Sarbhai notably hinted that Ripple is likely to launch a commercial application of its xRapid liquidity solution for banks “in the next month or so.”

As previously reported, China is a good example of a country that upholds a notoriously tough stance against decentralized cryptocurrencies, even as blockchain makes inroads at the very highest levels of the political structure.

This spring, Chinese president Xi Jinping openly praised blockchain as an example of a “new generation” of technologies delivering “breakthroughs,” and the country has sealed the world record for blockchain-related patent applications filed throughout 2016 and 2017.

Also read: Senior Dubai law enforcement official has predicted that digital currency will “soon” usurp cash

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Senior Dubai law enforcement official has predicted that digital currency will “soon” usurp cash

A senior Dubai law enforcement official has predicted that digital currency will “soon” usurp cash, local news outlet Khaleej Times reported Sunday, September 16.

Speaking during a panel he was heading, Lt-Gen Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, deputy chairman of the Dubai Police and head of general security in Dubai, said that hurdles to digital currency becoming mainstream remained in lack of public awareness and insufficient crime prevention tactics.

“…Faith in digital currencies will always be questioned as long as its source and tracking system remain unknown,” the Times paraphrases Tamim.

Dubai has taken a progressive-stance on both cryptocurrency and blockchain regulation in recent years, with the highly-publicized Blockchain Strategy and state-level interest putting the United Arab Emirates considerably ahead of its neighbors in the sector.

During the panel, other senior figures echoed Tamim’s enthusiasm, arguing the UAE should release a “digital UAE cryptocurrency using blockchain technology.”

Others were more prudent, Dr Saeed Al Dhaheri, chairman of digital smart services provider Dubai SmartWorld calling for regulations to be in place in what was still a turbulent industry.

“For every one successful digital transaction, there are five failed currencies,” the Times quotes him as saying.

Last week, reports emerged that UAE lawmakers would soon adopt formal regulations pertaining to both fintech and ICOs.

Also read: Wirex has announced it’s expanding to Canada

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Wirex has announced it’s expanding to Canada

Wirex, the popular European crypto card provider, has announced it’s expanding to Canada and we have the details covered in The Daily. Also in the rubric, the Coin Stats mobile app now synchronizes transactions from several exchanges, a coin claiming to have AML and KYC features is listed on a major exchange, and the UK government is asked about its assessment of recent crypto market developments.

Wirex Offers Crypto Wallets in Canada, Cards on the Way

UK-based crypto card issuer Wirex is expanding its operations to North America. In August, the company was awarded a Fintrac and Money Service Business registration by regulators in Canadawhere users can already take advantage of its wallet supporting several cryptocurrencies: bitcoin core (BTC), litecoin (LTC), ripple (XRP), and ethereum (ETH).

According to a blog post published recently, the company intends to next introduce traditional currency accounts and contactless Visa cards. Wirex plastics allow their holders to convert and spend cryptocurrency just like fiat money, both in shops and online. Their users can also benefit from the platform’s reward program offering 0.5% cashback in BTC on all in-store purchases.

The Wirex team notes that although the UK and the US are ahead in the rankings for traditional blockchain adoption, Canada leads the way when it comes to Ethereum technologyimplementation. They also point out that the country is currently second only to the US in terms of the number of operational bitcoin ATMs – more than 600 across the country.

Coin Stats

Now Syncs

Transactions

From

Binance

,

Bittrex

and

Kucoin

Cryptocurrency portfolio management software Coin Stats has announced the release of new updates for its Android and iOS apps, available in Google Play and Apple Store. The main changes include the option to synchronize past transactions from several exchanges. Support for Binance, Bittrex and Kucoin is currently provided and developers promise to expand the list in the future. Coin Stats also comes as a web-based application.

According to a post on Medium detailing the updates in the app, “You can make it sync your past transactions of all of your portfolios by enabling the toggle in the update popup below. Please note, your Profit/Loss will most probably change but it will become more precise.” Another novelty is that the detail pages of some coins are now styled with the brand colors of the respective project.

AML

Bitcoin

Listed on

Hitbtc

AML Bitcoin (ABTC), a cryptocurrency advertised as the coin with anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) technology built into its code, has been listed on Hitbtc, currently the sixth largest crypto exchange by daily trading volume. According to Marcus Andrade, Chief Executive Officer of NAC Foundation and creator of the crypto, “The tectonic shift by the world’s governments in the past year shows the urgent need for a digital currency that can both attract the crypto community and be used in commercial and governmental transactions. We are that coin!”

The US-headquartered NAC Foundation, which is the developer of ABTC, also claims the coin boasts some theft-resistant properties. The team behind the project insists AML Bitcoin is compliant with all major national security and financial protection laws and regulations, including the USA Patriot Act and the Bank Secrecy Act.

British

Government

Questioned About Recent

Crypto

Swings

The executive power in London has been facing a lot of questions pertaining to cryptocurrencies, with the latest one coming from Lord Taylor of Warwick, who asked Her Majesty’s Governmentabout their assessment of the reports that “the value of cryptocurrencies in the United States is falling” as well as “the potential effects that such a decline might have on the UK blockchainindustry.” It turns out not much has been done in that direction.

“The Government has not made a formal assessment of any potential implications of recent changes in the value of cryptocurrencies. However, the Government continues to monitor developments in the cryptocurrency market,” Lord Bates, Minister of State at the Department for International Development, said in a response quoted by Finance Feeds.

The exchange comes while the British public is awaiting a report this fall from the Cryptoassets Taskforce, formed in March by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to evaluate the risks and potential benefits of cryptoassets and other applications of the underlying distributed ledger technology in financial services in the United Kingdom. The body is also charged with determining whether and what kind of regulatory approach is needed to address the developments in the crypto space.

Also read: Mastercard is looking at the use of blockchain for keeping track of consumer payments

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Mastercard is looking at the use of blockchain for keeping track of consumer payments

In a series of largely similar patent applications published last week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Mastercard outlines how a distributed ledger can be used to record “point-to-point transactions” as they are processed. This information can then be used by organizations or members of those organizations to create a log of items procured during the course of business.

A blockchain ledger can, in particular, be used to streamline account management, one of the applications explains, by simplifying the process in which purchase orders are registered orders and monitored.

Monitoring purchases on multi-service platforms can likewise be simplified using a blockchain, Mastercard contends in the documents.

The firm goes on to explain:

“The use of digital ledgers, such as blockchains, may further facilitate the services provided by such a platform, by enabling data to be stored clearly and in a format that is easily auditable by participating entities. In cases where ledgers like blockchains are used, the ledgers may be provided even more benefits as they may be immutable and resistant to tampering, which may further increase the reliability of such data.”

“As a result, such a platform may provide a great number of services to entities while doing so in a manner that is more secure and transparent than any number of systems dedicated to even a single one of the multiple services,” the patent application states.

As previously reported, Mastercard has secured several patents related to blockchain, including one that details a method for speeding up cryptocurrency payments. The payments giant has also indicated its interest in hiring blockchain specialists in the past, marking another sign that Mastercard is actively pursuing applications of the technology.

Also read: Former engineer at Elon Musk’s SpaceX has announced his new firm LXDX would launch a public crypto exchange

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Former engineer at Elon Musk’s SpaceX has announced his new firm LXDX would launch a public crypto exchange

A former engineer at Elon Musk’s SpaceX has announced his new firm LXDX would launch a public cryptocurrency exchange, Leaprate reports Monday, September 17.

Previously engaged in automation and propulsion at SpaceX, Joshua Greenwald has since turned his attention to institutional-grade cryptocurrency trading.

While already operating for institutional investors, Greenwald now wishes to hook the mainstream consumer market.

“Our immediate focus is on cryptocurrency and enabling every investor to utilize the exclusive tools, like smart order routing, that only institutions previously could access,” Leaprate quotes him as saying.

LXDX received backing from a mixed bag of investors in August, chief among which was Dymon Asia Venture Capital Fund, before confirming a move into Malta last week.

The announcement comes as the institutional investment sector becomes an increasingly important focus for traditional finance heavyweights, rumors circulating last week about plansfrom both Citigroup and Morgan Stanley to begin offering exposure to Bitcoin.

“Cryptocurrencies are a wholly new asset class,” Greenwald told Venturebeat after announcing the August funding round.

“To the extent that they can be integrated into the existing infrastructure, we seek to facilitate that integration […] We anticipate massive scaling in tokenization and securitization.”

Also read: Zimbabwe’s new finance minister said the country should embrace Bitcoin at state level in a manner similar to Switzerland

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Zimbabwe’s new finance minister said the country should embrace Bitcoin at state level in a manner similar to Switzerland

Zimbabwe’s new finance minister said the country should embrace Bitcoin at state level in a manner similar to Switzerland, local media outlet IT Web Africa reports Monday, September 17.

Citing the Swiss central bank’s “investment and understanding” in Bitcoin, Mthuli Ncube said he would call on the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) to follow in its footsteps.

“Zimbabwe should be investing in understanding innovations and often central banks are too slow in investing in these technologies,” the publication quotes him as saying.

“But there are other countries which are moving faster. If you look at the Swiss central bank they are investing in and understanding Bitcoin.”

Zimbabwe continues to face cash difficulties following political upheaval on the back of years of economic turmoil.

The RBZ has meanwhile taken an increasingly risk-averse stance on cryptocurrency, in May this year banning all domestic banking institutions from servicing cryptocurrency businesses in a manner similar to India and Iran.

Ncube continued to imply that to turn a blind eye to Bitcoin now was to close the door to benefits which would present themselves later.

“…If these countries can see value in this and where it’s headed, we should also pay attention,” he said.

“…The idea shouldn’t be to stop it and say don’t do this, but rather the regulatorsshould invest in catching up with them and find ways to understand it, then you regulate it because you now understand it.”

In July, the RBZ revealed it was studying ways of applying blockchain technology to its internal processes.

Also read: Official government websites have become a prime target for cryptojacking in India

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Official government websites have become a prime target for cryptojacking in India

Official government websites have become a prime target for cryptojacking in India, The Economic Times (ET) reports today, September 17.

Cryptojacking is the practice of infecting a target with malware that uses a computer’s processing power to mine for cryptocurrencies without the owner’s consent or knowledge.

New research from cybersecurity analysts reportedly reveals that widely trusted governmentwebsites – including those of the director of the municipal administration of Andhra Pradesh, Tirupati Municipal Corporation and Macherla municipality – have become the latest to be exploited by the practice.

Security Researcher Indrajeet Bhuyan told ET that:

“Hackers target government websites for mining cryptocurrency because those websites get high traffic and mostly people trust them. Earlier, we saw a lot of government websites getting defaced (hacked). Now, injecting cryptojackers is more fashionable as the hacker can make money.”

According to the Times, Guwahati-based security researchers Shakil Ahmed, Anish Sarma and Bhuyan were the first to identify vulnerabilities on the AP government websites, all of which are subdomains of the extremely popular ap.gov.in – which is reported to receive over 160,000 visits per month.

According to the ET, crytojacking appears rife on enterprise as well as government systems, with PublicWWW listing over 119 Indian websites that run Coinhive code – a script created to mine Monero (XMR) via a web browser.

ET cites a recent Fortinet report that suggests cryptojacking has more than doubled between 2017 Q4 and 2018 Q1, with the percentage of affected enterprises rising from 13 to 28 percent.

Fortinet’s Rajesh Maurya told ET that cryptojacking generates revenue “with a fraction of the effort and attention caused by ransomware,” noting that illegal video-streaming websites are a particularly lucrative target, as the script can make use of multiple CPU cycles to mine crypto as users watch movies or TV series.

ET further reports that internet of things (IoT) products are considered by security experts to be “the next frontier” for cryptojackers, given that such devices have high processing power and yet may be idle for much of the day. ET’s search on IoT-focused search engine Shodan.io found that over 13,500 home routers in India were infected by cryptojacking malware – a figure that was only outflanked globally by Brazil.

As previously reported, a research this summer from cyber security firm McAfee Labs revealed that cryptojacking malware activity had risen a staggering 629 percent in 2018 Q1.

Also read: Implementation of the recently launched Gemini dollar stablecoin can be completely changed by a Gemini custodian every 48 hours

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Implementation of the recently launched Gemini dollar stablecoin can be completely changed by a Gemini custodian every 48 hours

The implementation of the recently launched Gemini dollar (GUSD) stablecoin can be completely changed by a Gemini custodian every 48 hours, according to a study authored by blockchainresearcher Alex Lebed and crypto consultant Alexey Akhunov, published on Medium on September 11.

In the research, the authors review the code of the GUSD’s smart contract in order to demonstrate that the implementation of the Gemini USD can become non-transferrable or frozen at any moment, which is noted in the Gemini dollar’s white paper. The option of pausing, blocking, or reversing GUSD transfers is one of the basic technical principles of the new centralized stablecoin introduced by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, according to the white paper.

The Gemini dollar white paper describes this feature along with other three main principles of the GUSD blockchain design, citing the need for the ability to manage token transfers in case of unforeseen circumstances:

“[Gemini can] pause, block, or reverse token transfers in response to a securityincident (i.e., catastrophic event).”

Specifically, the study’s authors review the smart contract of the Gemini dollar, implemented as an ERC20 token on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain, in order to demonstrate how to users can “independently” detect that feature.

The research is based on the Gemini address that was found on both a Reddit thread and Bitcoin Talk, while the researchers claimed that nevertheless, there is still “no trustless ways to know” that this address is the only address of Gemini.

As the study has found, Gemini’s custodian is able to generate an unlimited amount of GeminiUSD, and it can completely alter the implementation every 48 hours, making the coins non-transferable. In conclusion, the study’s authors appeared to question such an custodian ability in regard to “truly decentralized and censorship-resistant monetary systems.”

Following approval from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), the Winklevossbrothers launched the new centralized stablecoin Gemini dollar on Monday, September 10. The GUSD is backed by U.S. dollars that are “held at a bank located in the United States and eligible for FDIC ‘pass-through’ deposit insurance, subject to applicable limitations.”

The Gemini dollar represents the first crypto-related asset from the Winklevoss twins, who previously received a second rejection from regulators to launch Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) in July.

Also read: Binance “accidentally” revealed plans to launch a fiat-to-crypto exchange in Singapore

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Binance “accidentally” revealed plans to launch a fiat-to-crypto exchange in Singapore

On Saturday (15 September 2018), day two of the Cumberland Summit in Singapore, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, co-founder and CEO of crypto exchange Binance, probably the world’s largest crypto exchange by traded volume, “accidentally” revealed plans to launch a fiat-to-crypto exchange in Singapore. CZ said that a close beta test would begin on September 18th.

Later that day, the Binance CEO admitted to his mistake on Twitter:

I just slipped that we will begin #Binance Singapore fiat exchange live money closed beta testing on Sept 18th, in 3 days. Invitation only first. Exciting! https://t.co/Hzo6jLLkfS — CZ Binance (@cz_binance) September 15, 2018

This means that it is quite likely that the Singapore exchange will be launched before the end of the year, and that it will be offering SGD/BTC and SGD/ETH trading pairs.

It is not too surprising to hear that Binance has chosen to launch in Singapore, a global financial hub with relatively low taxes, a tech-friendly atmosphere, and a reputation as a good place to launch ICOs; a few examples of ICOs launched in Singapore are TenX, Golem, and Qtum. Coinbase, Gemini, and Huobi already have a presence in Singapore. Also, foundations for Litecoin, TRON, and VeChain are based here.

In June 2018, Japan’s LINE Corporation announced that it was going to launch its own crypto exchange (called BITBOX) in Singapore; this exchange began operations on 16 July 2018.

On 11 September 2018, Malta Today reported that Binance had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Malta Stock Exchange to launch a new digital exchange for security tokentrading.

Although yesterday’s tweet by the Binance CEO was quite interesting, perhaps his most interesting tweet was posted on 12 September 2018, when he said that he disagreed with Vladik Buterin’s view that the crypto space had reached a level of maturity that meant that “1000x price increases” were no longer possible:

I still disagree with this. I will say “crypto will absolutely grow 1000x and more!” Just reaching USD market cap will give it close to 1000x, (that’s just one currency with severely restricted use case), and the derivatives market is so much bigger. https://t.co/bvSttEeCmc — CZ Binance (@cz_binance) September 12, 2018

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World Economic Forum foundation has outlined more than 65 blockchain use cases for solving the “most pressing” environmental challenges

The World Economic Forum (WEF) foundation has outlined more than 65 blockchain use cases for solving the “most pressing” environmental challenges, in a report published September 14.

In the report, titled “Building Block(chain)s for a Better Planet,” the Switzerland-based WEF has highlighted a large number of blockchain applications that could be used to help solve the world’s most pressing environmental challenges.

The proposed applications, according to the WEF, can enhance the environment protection efforts in several ways, such as new financing models for environmental outcomes, the realization of non-financial value and natural capital, outlining more efficient and cleaner decentralized systems, and others.

In addition to the potential for improving existing processes, the report also mentions the possibility of introducing completely new blockchain solutions – so-called “game changers” – that are expected to completely transform the way major environmental issues are managed.

These “game changers” include “see through” supply chains, decentralized energy and water management systems, sustainable fundraising sources, carbon markets, and others.

According to the report, the next important step in introducing blockchain applications for environmental protection is the establishment a “responsible” and “global” blockchain ecosystem, as opposed to funding specific, separate projects.

In conclusion, the WEF also pinpointed the problem of excessive use of blockchain caused by the hype around the industry.

To solve this issue, the organization has suggested three major questions to be considered as a starting point for any blockchain-related initiative: can the technology solve a specific problem, can the risks of unintended consequences be managed acceptably, and whether a functioning ecosystem of stakeholders is available.

On September 13, the WEF published a joint report that has estimated that the distributed ledger technology (DLT) could add $1 trillion to the volume of global trade over the next ten years. The report also argued that the embracement of the technology by major governments, including the member-states of the European Union, is “unavoidable.”

Also read: South Korea’s LG UPlus is launching a blockchain-based cross-carrier overseas payment service

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South Korea’s LG UPlus is launching a blockchain-based cross-carrier overseas payment service

South Korea’s LG UPlus, a mobile carrier owned by the country’s fourth largest conglomerate LG Corp., is launching a blockchain-based cross-carrier overseas payment service, Korea Times reports today, September 16.

Last Thursday, September 13, LG UPlus had signed an MoU to develop the new service alongside three global partners: Taiwan-based Far EasTone Telecommunications, Japan’s SoftBank, and U.S.-based TBCASoft. Through the new service, users of one telecoms carrier will be able to frictionlessly complete transactions on the payment networks of another.

According to the Korea Times, the first trial of the LG UPlus partners’ blockchain-based cross-carrier payment system (CCPS) is slated for the beginning of 2019.

CCPS will reportedly deploy blockchain to enable a prompt settlement mechanism in cross-carrier services. This will mean that users can avoid fees on overseas credit card transactions, and are insulated from the effects of fluctuating foreign exchange rates as they are ultimately billed through their carrier in their home currency.

For example, the service will allow LG UPlus Korean subscribers to purchase retail goods when using their cellphones in Taiwan and Japan, while Far EasTone users from Taiwan will enjoy the same convenience in Korea and Japan.

Ling Wu, founder and CEO of TBCASoft, told the Korea Times that the cross-carrier payment system is the first in a planned series of telecoms-specific blockchain-based solutions, noting that systems designed for “identity and authentication” are next.

Far EasTone, SoftBank, and TBCASoft are all among the initial founding members of the Carrier Blockchain Study Group (CBSG), a global blockchain consortium of telecom carriers that launched in late 2017. As reported earlier this summer, CSBG has recently unveiled the creation of a new blockchain working group that will focus on global remittance services, as well as adding six further major global telecoms firms to its ranks.

Just last week, Softbank unveiled a new proof-of-concept (PoC) in partnership with Synchronoss Technologies and TBCASoft to use CCPS to allow users to conduct peer-to-peer money transfers globally using legacy messaging services such as SMS and email.

Also read: Lobby group of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs is working on an alternative crypto regulation bill

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Lobby group of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs is working on an alternative crypto regulation bill

A lobby group of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) is working on an alternative crypto regulation bill, which will eliminate supposed contradictions in the state draft law “On Digital Financial Assets,” Forklog reported Thursday, September 14.

The alternative bill will be developed by a group of high-ranked Russian managers such as billionaire Vladimir Potanin, owner of the nickel and palladium mining and smelting company Nornickel, and Viktor Vekselberg, head of the Russian innovation fund Skolkovo. Both are listedamong the top ten richest businessmen in the country by Forbes.

The expert council for the lobby group is formed by representatives of various ministries, departments and the Russian State Duma.

According to RSPP vice-president Elina Sidorenko, the new bill will divide digital assets in three groups: tokens, which will be equivalent to securities, cryptocurrencies, and digital “signs”. She further explained that cryptocurrencies will be treated differently:

“Cryptocurrencies will have a special status, which has never appeared in Russian legislation before, and will be regulated on the basis of laws and regulations that will be issued by the Russian Central Bank. The Central Bank will issue licenses for exchange operations. In this regard, the status of crypto owners will be notably facilitated in comparison to securities owners.”

Sidorenko stressed that tokens will also fall under the law on securities, while “digital sign” issuers will not need to apply for licences from the central bank. She did not specify what “digital sign” meant legally.

Sidorenko hopes that the alternative bill will help eliminate contradictions in the state bill that she calls “unfinished and fragmented”. Per Sidorenko, the RSPP document will rely on the actual legal framework in Russia and will take other countries’ experience into consideration.

The alternative bill must first be approved by the RSPP, which will then discuss it with Russian officials later in October, Forklog reports.

The bill “On Digital Financial Assets” was accepted by the State Duma in the first of three readings in May 2018. The law defined cryptocurrencies and tokens as property and soon drew criticism from industry figures.

Also read: Tim Draper has predicted that total cryptocurrency market capitalization will hit $80 trillion in the next 15 years

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Tim Draper has predicted that total cryptocurrency market capitalization will hit $80 trillion in the next 15 years

Venture capital investor Tim Draper has predicted that total cryptocurrency market capitalization will hit $80 trillion in the next 15 years, news outlet DealStreetAsia reported September 14.

Speaking at the DealStreetAsia PE-VC Summit 2018 in Singapore, Draper argued that the significant slide in the cryptocurrency market in recent months is attributed to people who have not adopted digital currencies as a new asset class. Draper stated that once people become more familiar with the technology, it would transform many important industries globally:

“I think it’s going to have such a transformative effect on industries that we never even imagined would be transformable. The internet went after industries that were $10–100 billion dollar markets, cryptocurrency will go after trillion dollar markets — these are finance, healthcare and insurance, banking and investment banking, and governments.”

In January 2018, Barron’s reported that the Russell 3000 Index — which accounts for 98.5 percent of the entire U.S. stock market — was worth $30 trillion. The “staggering” amount of money followed a successful year in 2017, in which the market experienced 22 percent returns.

Draper also compared the current state of the crypto market with the early days of Internet, saying:

“The internet started in the same way, it came in big waves and then it kind of came crashing down, and then the next wave comes concentrated but much bigger, and I suspect the same thing will go on here (with Bitcoin).”

Brian Kelly of CNBC’s Fast Money compared cryptocurrency to the “Internet in the 1980s” as well, pointing out that Bitcoin (BTC) is still in its early stages. Kelly asserted that while he used to see crypto as comparable to the Internet in 1995, he now understands that a better comparison is further back. He added:

“I think this technology is going to work, it’s going to be game changing, but it’s very early days, so we can have this massive volatility.”

Also read: Swiss-based cryptocurrency project the Tezos Foundation has announced that its mainnet will be launched on Monday

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Swiss-based cryptocurrency project the Tezos Foundation has announced that its mainnet will be launched on Monday

The Swiss-based cryptocurrency project the Tezos Foundation has announced that its mainnetwill be launched on Monday, according to a September 14 tweet.

Have a great weekend, everyone, because mainnet arrives Monday! — Tezos Foundation (@TezosFoundation) September 14, 2018

On Monday, the beta period of the network will officially be over, as the protocol will become a full mainnet. Tezos introduced its beta network in June, calling the move an “inflection point” for the project. From that point on, users could begin validating blocks or “baking” after the first seven cycles.

In order to build a network and issue a new type of cryptocurrency, Tezos launched an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in July 2017, in which it raised around 66,000 Bitcoins (BTC) and 361,000 Ethereums(ETH), worth about $232 million at that time. Tezos, however, called the funds “a non-refundable donation” and not a “speculative investment,” adding that the token might not be issued at all.

Following the ICO, a dispute arose between Arthur and Kathleen Breitman, the co-founders of the project who own Tezos’ intellectual property rights, and Johann Gevers, who controlled the raised funds. This led to an indefinite delay of the platform launch and a series of lawsuits against the company.

Since the ICO’s completion, Tezos has also been the subject of criticism and multiple lawsuitsconcerning compliance with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations. The lawsuits claimed that Tezos tokens should be considered securities under U.S. law, meaning they would need to be registered with the SEC in order to be legally sold to investors.

In June, the foundation announced the implementation of Know Your Customer/Anti-Money Laundering (KYS/AML) checks for contributors, specifically for those looking to participate in ICOs. The move was met with a negative reaction from the community.

Also read: France’s Minister for the Economy and Finance has announced that the government has accepted an article of the Business Growth and Transformation bill dedicated to ICO

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France’s Minister for the Economy and Finance has announced that the government has accepted an article of the Business Growth and Transformation bill dedicated to ICO

France’s Minister for the Economy and Finance has announced that the government has accepted an article of the Business Growth and Transformation bill (PACTE) dedicated to Initial Coin Offerings (ICO), according to a tweet posted Wednesday, September 12.

As finance Minister Bruno Le Maire states, the French stock markets regulator Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) is now empowered to give licenses to companies that want to raise funds via an ICO, with the legislation aiming to help protect contributors’ interests.

Le Maire also hopes that the current legal framework for ICOs in France will “attract investorsfrom all over the world.”

According to the PACTE project published by the National Assembly (lower party of the French parliament), prior to any token issuances, a company must apply for a license from the AMF providing detailed information on the offer and issuer. The measures will provide additional guarantees for ICOs, which AMF had previously considered risky.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron has historically been bullish on emerging innovative technologies, last year proposing to convert France into a “startup nation.” Later in 2018, in linewith Macron’s words, Le Maire introduced his PACTE bill, which aims to transform and innovate the French economy, in March stating France was ready for a “blockchain revolution”.

This year, France has also seen changes in rules surrounding crypto taxation, though in a more stringent direction. In May, the French Council of State clarified the specifics of Bitcoin taxation in France to move the tax for Bitcoin trading from a progressive taxation (between 14 and 45 percent) to a fixed taxation of 19 percent.

In terms of the wider European context, European Parliament members held a meeting with blockchain experts on ICO regulation in early September.

Later Belgian think tank Bruegel released a report that called for unified legislation on cryptocurrencies in the EU and more scrutiny on how they were distributed to investors.

Also read: U.S. CFTC Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo has said that crypto needs a “do no harm” approach from regulators to flourish

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Overstock announced that its investment choice Bitsy has begun a limited beta launch of its cryptocurrency wallet and exchange

The blockchain investment arm of U.S. internet retailer Overstock announced that its investment choice Bitsy has begun a limited beta launch of its cryptocurrency wallet and exchange, the companies confirmed in a press release Friday, September 14.

Bitsy, which seeks to offer users custody of their holdings via private keys while facilitating password recovery using biometric security, will initially support Bitcoin (BTC) buying, with undisclosed altcoin assets to follow.

As a bonus, Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne confirmed, customers would now be able to purchase Bitcoin directly from its website via the integration with Bitsy.

“Bitsy sets a new standard for cryptocurrency wallets. It is a game-changer because it gives users the freedom that bitcoin has always promised,” he commented in the release:

“[I]ntegrating with Bitsy will allow Overstock to take the next step in its cryptocurrency journey by allowing the company to offer bitcoin for sale directly from the retail website.”

The move marks the latest commitment to Bitcoin from the retail giant, which first began accepting the cryptocurrency in January 2014.

Earlier this month, Byrne surprised many by selling 10 percent of his equity in the company in order to reinvest the proceeds in two investment projects and satisfy tax obligations.

Another Overstock subsidiary, tZERO, wrapped up its (Initial Coin Offering) ICO proceedings last month, with plans to build an ICO token trading platform.

Also read: South Korea’s customs authority is looking to adopt Samsung’s blockchain tech as the backbone of a decentralized customs clearance system