GDPR: A Game Changer Is Coming for Cryptocurrency

The EU has finally come out with an approved framework for how corporations should handle user
data. Although this are quite good news for people generally, I can also see it as a massive blow for so many altcoins.

Trust me when I say there is an enormous storm coming.


GDPR – What’s Important to Retain

There are many important rules companies must follow starting from June 2018, that will actively protect customers against corporations data theft and abuse (ie, selling your data without your consent or creating complicated terms and agreements most users do not fully understand). I advise you to read through the whole thing especially if you (like me) work in IT, are responsible for an IT department or have your own startup; but there’s one single point I believe to be most destructive for many cryptocurrencies

Yes indeed, each user has the right to be forgotten, meaning, all user data should be able to get permanently deleted. Let’s say if I chose to delete my facebook account, anything I have ever posted, commented, liked, etc has to disappear. It does seem simple when you own your own infrastructure, but due to one of the most important properties of blockchain technology being its immutability, you can already see the problem bubbling up.

Any platform that uses a distributed ledger to store user data (blockchain, ethereum) is, by all means, screwed. There is absolutely no way around this. What if companies just ignore this new enforcement? Well, the fine is only 4% of your company’s revenue, up to 20 Million Euros.

So if you have invested in a project, own a project or are generally interested in better understanding how this market will evolve, please do pay attention to the following: storing any user data on any public distributed ledger is half-way to a really, really, really unpleasantly expensive outcome.

From the top 100 cryptocurrencies, how many can you identify that will face issues due to this new regulation? Platforms that hold user data in any form must assure there is a way for that data to be deleted. Let me underline this again: it means a big no-no to storing any user data on a ledger from where that data cannot be deleted.

What about other rules?

Other key changes can be followed without compromising the concept of immutable distributed ledger technology. If you want more information on the subject I highly advise you to read this article. All these points are explained brilliantly by the author. If you want a more in-depth understanding of how this problem could be avoided see this one. In short, you would have to consider off-chain storing of data; this is, centralized servers.

Now what?

Raise awareness, speak to members of projects where you’re heavily invested and try to read as much as possible on the subject. Learning is the only way you’ll ever feel safe. Your opinion is the one you should value the most, as there is no one who will look-out better for yourself than… well, yourself!

South Korea’s Kakao to Integrate Cryptocurrency For 12,000 Merchants & Millions Users

Asia Business, an influential finance-focused media outlet in South Korea, has reported that Kakao, one of the two largest internet companies that operate KakaoTalk, KakaoPay, KakaoStory, KakaoTaxi, and a subsidiary company which runs major cryptocurrency exchange UpBit, will integrate cryptocurrency within 2018.

Importance of Kakao

An exclusive coverage released by Asia Business revealed that Kakao’s fintech application KakaoPay, which registered 3 million users within its debut month, will integrate cryptocurrencies into its local application to allow users to send and receive cryptocurrencies. Kakao is also planning to launch its own cryptocurrency, similar to the model of Binance’s Binance Coin, within this year.
Once KakaoPay integrates cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and Ethereum, all the other Kakao apps would become  compatible with cryptocurrency payments. If Kakao pursues its plan to integrate cryptocurrencies into KakaoPay by the end of 2018, millions of KakaoTaxi, KakaoTalk, and other Kakao applications will soon be able to utilize cryptocurrencies.
Last year, Dunamoo, a subsidiary company of Kakao, launched UpBit, the first cryptocurrency-only exchange in South Korea. Within a few months, UpBit became one of the top five cryptocurrency exchanges in the market. Dunamoo’s launch of UpBit is considered by analysts as the first move Kakao made to enter the cryptocurrency market.
The massive success of UpBit and the rising demand for cryptocurrency from local investors likely led Kakao to focus on addressing the market, given that other companies like Bithumb have already secured large partnerships with the country’s largest e-commerce platforms and retailers in WeMakePrice and Yeogi Eottae to integrate cryptocurrencies into their existing payment infrastructures.
Kakao’s market penetration in South Korea exceeds the 90 percent mark, in all three areas: messaging, taxi service, and fintech. KakaoPay is the most dominant fintech application in the local market, and it is used by many millennials as an alternative to the South Korean banking system, as KakaoPay offers loans and provides virtual bank accounts, apart from settling both small and large transactions.
The integration of cryptocurrency by Kakao will immediately expose bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies to tens of millions of people that utilize Kakao on a daily basis. Kakao’s dominance in the South Korean market has come to a point in which devices like smartphones come with Kakao applications installed.

Increasing Adoption

As CCN reported, South Korea’s largest hotel booking platform Yeogi Eottae has already secured a partnership with the country’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb to integrate cryptocurrencies.
Bithumb has started to supply cryptocurrency kiosks to many restaurants, cafes, and food franchises in South Korea, to increase the adoption of cryptocurrency and provide a better way for South Koreans to spend cryptocurrencies casually, on a daily basis, without technical issues.
With Japan’s leading retailers like Bic Camera, airline Peach, hotel chain Capsule, and electric grid operator Bitpoint integrating cryptocurrencies, the decision of major South Korean businesses to adopt cryptocurrencies will likely lead to a surge in growth in the Asian cryptocurrency market in the mid-term.

China Will Move Slowly to Regulate Cryptocurrency

While it does not recognize bitcoin as a payment tool, China recognizes that digital currency is inevitable and is in no hurry to regulate cryptocurrencies, according to Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the country’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC).
The central bank official gave his views on digital currency during a press conference at the National People’s Congress 2018, according to 8btc, a Chinese industry news site.
He said regulations will depend on regional trials and new technology.
The central bank is researching digital currency, he said. Issuing digital currency does not depend on a technology application, he said, but on the ability to reduce the costs and improve the convenience of retail payments. The bank will also consider privacy and security in its actions concerning cryptocurrency.

Digital Currency Is Inevitable

Zhou acknowledged that digital currency is inevitable, and is likely to eventually replace paper money and coins. He said it is important to be wary of the financial system’s and investor influence on digital currency.
Virtual currency is not integrated with existing financial products or the spirit that finance serves China’s economy, Zhou said. Hence, he cautions against the government rushing into digital currency.
Zhou stressed the importance of preventing the introduction of speculative products, pointing to bitcoin’s wild expansion. The expansion of a bitcoin like cryptocurrency would have an unexpected impact on monetary policy and financial stability.
The central bank, Zhou said, is moving cautiously with cryptocurrency and is working with the industry on research and development.
The central bank does not recognize bitcoin as a payment tool, and it is carefully watching bitcoin like financial products and strengthening consumer and investor protection and education.
Promising products need to be tested, Zhou said.

Government Crackdown Continues

Regulators in China recently began blocking social media accounts belonging to cryptocurrency exchanges that continue to offer services to customers located on the mainland.
On Tuesday, Beijing-based media outlet Caixin reported that local authorities had forced social messaging platform WeChat to shut down accounts belonging to select cryptocurrency exchanges in a bid to further restrict the ability of mainland residents to trade cryptocurrencies.
China had forced the closure of domestic cryptocurrency exchanges that offered fiat-to-cryptocurrency trading pairs last September, but some investors told Caixin that they were still able to access the offshore platforms. Other traders moved to over-the-counter and peer-to-peer platforms, often using social media to find trading partners and execute transactions.