Banking Ban Reversal? India to Finalise Crypto currency Regulations in July

The head of the Indian government committee tasked to propose a regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency sector has revealed authorities are close to finalizing a draft in July.

Nearly three months after the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank, introduced a banking freeze on the cryptocurrency sector to adversely impact trading volumes, exchanges and investors have remained hopeful of legislation that regulates – in effect recognizes and legalizes – the industry.

Earlier this month, we reported that the Indian government committee responsible for overseeing and proposing a regulatory framework wasn’t in favor of a blanket ban of the cryptocurrency sector.

In a televised interview with India’s biggest financial news channel, the head of that government committee and the secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs Subash Chandra Garg confirmed that the authority is in the final stage of finalizing the regulatory draft framework for the cryptocurrency sector.

He stated:

`We are fairly close to developing a template [for crypto regulations] that we think is in the best interests of the country. We have prepared a draft which we intend to discuss with the committee members in the first week of July.”

First established in early 2017, the inter-governmental committee was expected to bring some clarity to the longstanding legal ambiguity of cryptocurrencies in the country. What followed has been anything but, with government ministries, the central bank, domestic banks and even the country’s finance minister weighing in with varying statements on cryptocurrencies.

Still, Garg insisted that the committee – which originally had three months to submit a report a year ago – had made significant progress in developing a draft framework which is now expected in July.

He added:

“We’ve actually moved quite a lot [in drafting regulations] in that, what part of the [crypto] business should be banned, what should be preserved and what not. That kind of detailed work has happened. Now should be in a position to wrap this up in the first fortnight of July.”

Meanwhile, Indian cryptocurrency exchanges have fast-tracked their petition to legally challenge the RBI’s ban of their banking services with a hearing on July 3rd.

The court hearing is scheduled two days before the RBI’s order comes into effect on July 5. In preparation to the ban, some Indian exchanges like Zebpay have proactively warned users that withdrawals of their fiat funds will become “impossible” in the event of a banking blackout, urging them to do so before the ban kicks in.

We’ll Treat Cryptocurrencies with Caution, Says Russian President Putin

The Russian government will continue to tread the subject of cryptocurrencies with caution, newly re-elected president Vladimir Putin said during his annual Q&A hotline session with the Russian public.

On Thursday’s live “Direct Line” session with president Putin, a citizen asked if Russia will have its own cryptocurrency and, if so, if it would be controlled by the government. Putin was also asked to offer his thoughts on cryptocurrencies’ disruptive potential to replace standard physical fiat cash.

In response, Putin said Russia cannot have a cryptocurrency since they “by definition” aren’t within the control of a state and are “beyond national borders”, he explained. While that explanation may fall short in the context of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), Putin admitted the “phenomenon” of cryptocurrencies is growing globally.
Cryptocurrencies as payment instruments have been adopted in Japan but “it doesn’t work in other countries” Putin said, highlighting the views of Russia’s own central bank on the subject.

Putin said:

“In most countries, cryptocurrency is not a means of settlement. The Central Bank of the Russian Federation believes that cryptocurrencies cannot be a means of payment, settlement or store of value. These currencies are not secured by anything.”

The latest national ‘hotline’ was Putin’s 16th live Q&A session with a Russian public, a four-hour annual televised event with curated questions. Notably, it was the first session wherein the platform saw discussion surrounding cryptocurrencies and the sector’s expected regulations.

Putin even touched on cryptocurrency mining, stating it “is not regulated by us” but “we treat it very carefully”. An energy-intensive process, cryptocurrency mining sees blocks of validated transactions added to the blockchain wherein miners are rewarded with newly minted coins.

Avoiding Sanctions with Cryptocurrencies
As for its potential applications, Putin insisted that Russia should explore the possibility of using cryptocurrencies to “avoid restrictions in global finance and trade”, hinting at the possibility of using blockchain technology to avoid western financial sanctions led by the United States.

The Russian president’s remarks on the subject come within weeks of a Moscow meeting between Iranian and Russian officials discussing the usage of cryptocurrency for international trade.

Fidelity is Quietly Building a Cryptocurrency Exchange: Report

Multi-trillion dollar asset manager Fidelity Investments is building a cryptocurrency exchange, internal job postings have revealed.

According to Business Insider, the Boston, MA-based firm has advertised internally for a DevOps System Engineer “to help engineer, create and deploy a Digital Asset exchange to both a public and private cloud.”

Citing anonymous sources with knowledge of the matter, the publication further reported that Fidelity, which currently manages $2.4 trillion in assets, has been planning the initiative for approximately one year.

The company is also seeking staff to develop “first-in-class custodian services for Bitcoin and other digital currencies.”The latter position falls under the Fidelity Digital Asset Service division, which handles the firm’s limited cryptocurrency-related services.

At present, select clients can link their Coinbase accounts to their Fidelity portfolios, enabling them to view their cryptocurrency holdings on the Fidelity platform alongside their other investments. This new service would allow Fidelity to hold cryptoassets directly.

It’s not clear whether the cryptocurrency exchange would be made available on the main Fidelity platform or whether it would exist as a separate entity under the company’s umbrella. Nor is it clear when the venue would launch.

Under CEO Abigail Johnson’s leadership, Fidelity was one of the first institutions to give the nascent cryptocurrency asset class a serious look.

“I’m a believer,” she said at a cryptocurrency industry conference last May. “I’m one of the few standing before you today from a large financial services company that has not given up on digital currencies.”

The firm has made venture investments in several industry companies and reportedly even set up a small cryptocurrency mining operation that Johnson said was “actually making a lot of money” even though it had been established primarily for educational purposes.

The company’s charitable wing also allows donors to make contributions in bitcoin, and the fund has collected tens of millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrencies over the years — including $22 million in 2017 alone.

Cryptocurrency exchanges have seen soaring valuations in recent months, and a number from this once-opaque industry have approached regulators about acquiring licenses that would help demonstrate their legitimacy to large institutions.

Circle, which recently acquired cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex, has revealed that it will pursue registration as a broker-dealer and alternative trading system (ATS) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and may ultimately pursue a banking license. Coinbase has reportedly discussed similar plans, though it has not given public confirmation.

However, if a firm as large and well-known as Fidelity launched a cryptocurrency exchange, it would undoubtedly go much further toward cementing the legitimacy of this asset class alongside other financial instruments.

‘World’s Largest Ethereum Wallet’ ImToken Raises $10 Million Series A to Fund Global Expansion

Chinese ethereum wallet startup imToken has raised a $10 million Series A from IDG Capital as it seeks to expand its product offering and finance international expansion into Asia, Africa, and the United States.

The Hangzhou-based company, which was founded in 2016, claims to be the world’s largest ethereum wallet, with more than 4 million monthly active users and support for 30,000 tokens.

ImToken says that $35 billion worth of funds have been stored in the app over the past calendar year, which is 75 percent more than the “more than $20 billion” that Coinbase has said its customers have stored on its platform. Self-reported data also indicates that imToken users account for approximately 10 percent of all ethereum transactions.

“imToken has developed its product into one of the top crypto asset wallets in the world with such a sound reputation. We believe it will become a significant infrastructure for the tokenization manifesto, benefitting both the crypto economy and blockchain technology,” IDG Capital’s Young Guo was quoted as saying in a press statement.

According to Bloomberg, 70 percent of imToken’s user base comes from China, and the company has said that IDG’s funding will be used to bootstrap international adoption. The firm will open an office in Singapore that will focus on expansion into Southeast Asia, after which it intends to expand into the rest of Asia as well as African countries where the app already has a core user group. Finally, the firm will make a global push, expanding into the US and other regions.

Though available to Western users, the app has yet to make much of a dent in this market. At present, the app has approximately 100,000 installs from the Google Play store — which is not readily available in China — along with a four-star rating.

ImToken also intends to use the funds to expand the range of assets supported by the mobile wallet. The company recently rolled out support for bitcoin (including SegWit), and it also intends to develop compatibility with EOS and other blockchains.

Kuwait Bank Adopts Ripple(XRP) for Instant Cross-Border Payments

The Kuwait Finance House (KFH) has become the Arab nation’s first bank to join RippleNet, an enterprise blockchain network from industry giant Ripple, for international remittance payments.

In an announcement, the Kuwaiti bank confirmed its move to join RippleNet, a SWIFT-replacement global blockchain network that sees over 100 financial institutions including banks, payment providers, remittance operators and other financial institutions use the product for real-time clearing and settlement of international transactions.

KFH, which is also Kuwait’s first Islamic bank, underlined its intention to use Ripple’s ‘unique tool’ for cross-border payments for its retail customers, stating:

With this, KFH can provide instant and secure cross-border money transfers within seconds, with end-to-end visibility over the journey of the payment.

Details of the offering are currently scarce and it remains to be seen if the bank uses Ripple’s xCurrent, an enterprise blockchain software that enables settlements in fiat or xRapid, a product which uses Ripple’s token cryptocurrency XRP for real-time liquidity for international transactions.

While the bank says it will require the approval of the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) prior to the launch of the Ripple-enabled service, KFH insists customers will benefit from faster payments in increased efficiency, security and transparency of the transaction at markedly lower costs than traditional remittance solutions.

Elsewhere in the region, UAE-based RAK Bank, also known as the National Bank of Ras Al-Khaimah, an emirate in the UAE, became a RippleNet member in September to enable “instant, frictionless and secure money transfer services” to recipients with accounts in India’s Axis Bank, also a RippleNet member. In February, one of the Middle East’s biggest money transfer and forex firms, the UAE Exchange, also joined the blockchain network developed by San Francisco-based Ripple.

The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA), the defacto central bank of Saudi Arabia, has also partnered Ripple to pilot Ripple’s xCurrent among a number of regional banks. The SAMA also became the first central bank in the world to join RippleNet.

Porn Star Stormy Daniels Now Accepts Vice Industry Token on Official Website

The Vice Industry Token (VIT) Network will include twenty adult sites as part of a partnership with Darkreach Communications, including one that features the work of alleged Trump mistress Stormy Daniels.

Vice Token CEO Stewart Duncan said:

“Stormy Daniels understands the value of cryptocurrency. We are thrilled that she chose our blockchain technology to implement on her site.”

The Vice Industry Token is a decentralized cryptographic token that will be used as an incentive to encourage media engagement within the adult media community. For example, visitors to StormyDaniels.com will be rewarded with VIT for watching content or interacting with it by liking or commenting, and the VIT can then be spent on subscriptions or premium content on Ms. Daniels’ site or other partnered adult sites. The token can also be exchanged for other cryptocurrencies and spent or converted into fiat currency, supposedly allowing users to earn money simply for consuming adult media on any of the partnered sites.

Based in Ottowa, Canada, Darkreach Communications manages over 20 adult websites for porn studios and individual stars like Stormy Daniels and Jayden James, and VIT will be introduced to all of them. Darkreach President Rob Murray said the decision to incorporate cryptocurrency into his client’s websites was a “no-brainer”:

 “With VIT, everyone is going to make money – from the users on my sites, to myself and the performers. The way the VIT blockchain works, we all get a piece of the token, and the guaranteed genuine data is the icing in the cake.”

VIT CEO Duncan said that this was simply the first of many upcoming partnerships in the pipeline for Vice Industry Token, and that the team were working on more.

“We have been working extremely hard to ensure that when our platform launches we will have a large network of sites that accept our token to monetize users just for interacting with content. This is just the first set of partners. We are talking to new companies every day.  It’s an easy sell because with our model everyone wins.”

This is the latest instance of cryptocurrency adoption within the adult industry, with Pornhub recently introducing Verge currency as a payment option for private subscriptions and allowing for one-time payments for content using Verge after their partnership with MindGeek. Pornhub even allowed Verge to be used as a reward incentive much like VIT with Darkreach sites, potentially spelling big things for the cryptocurrency.

However, the world’s biggest porn site may be reconsidering, with a recent Pornhub competition offering prizes worth tens of thousands of dollars paid in cryptocurrency – and the cryptocurrency is Vice Token.

Pornhub may be flirting with Vice after the recent 51% attack on Verge which significantly impacted public perception of the reliability of the crypto token.

Bitcoin Price to Bottom at $5,700 in Short-Term Before Recovery: Analyst

Willy Woo, a respected cryptocurrency, and digital asset analyst, recently stated that the bitcoin price might likely fall below the $6,000 mark in the short-term.

Recent Market Struggles

Since mid-May, ever since the bitcoin price failed to test a major support level at $10,000, the cryptocurrency market has been on a continuous decline. The vast majority of tokens and small cryptocurrencies have followed the price trend of bitcoin and Ethereum. On both the upside and downside, the price movement of tokens intensified, recording larger drops than bitcoin during minor corrections.

On May 25, Woo noted that the bitcoin price would likely dip below the $6,000 level and test $5,500 to $5,700 as a long-term support level. In previous reports, CCN noted that the $6,500 mark is an important resistance level which bitcoin has been able to bounce off of since early January.

In the short-term, it is likely that bitcoin falls below $7,000 and test the $6,500 resistance level and the failure to remain above that level will likely send bitcoin to the lower end of $6,000 and potentially to the higher end of $5,000.

Woo named four major reasons to support his call:

High NVT signal
High volatility
Standard NVT overly high
Volume Profile cliff below $6,800

“NVT Signal is still too high. We need more blockchain transactional activity to justify the current price, or the price to drop to reconcile the difference. To drive up transactional activity in a bear slide is very unlikely. Volatility is still too high. I’m looking for a sustained low band of volatility which tends to be a signal for the end of the detox and the next accumulation phase. It’s still got some time to ride down,” said Woo.

NVT Signal is a trading indicator developed by Woo, which is essentially a Standard NVT Ratio–Network Valuation divided by Transaction Value on the blockchain smoothed using moving average–except that instead of applying the moving average to both Network Valuation and Transaction Value, NVT Signal applies moving average to only the Transaction Value, creating a more responsive chart.

While it is unlikely that the bitcoin price drops to the lower end of $5,000, Woo stated that bitcoin would most likely not be able to hold up in the $7,000 region and inevitably drop down to the $6,000 region.

But, because of the intensity of the decline since late 2017, Woo emphasized that 2018 will not see a similar correction period as 2014 and prevent a 2-phase drop.

“So, in summary, my best guess… slowish bleed down to $6800… then a steeper slide to $5700, then a leveling out of the drop… then a flat zone. This is an educated guess based on volume profile and fundamental data framing the rate of movement,” added Woo.

Bitcoin Price to Rebound from $5,700
In October 2017, after nearly doubling in price within a 3-month period, the bitcoin price achieved $5,700. Falling to the $5,700 region would essentially send the price of bitcoin back by nine months.

However, the cryptocurrency market is significantly different from where it was in October. Its volumes are in orders of magnitude larger and the standard of infrastructure provided by companies like Coinbase and Gemini are unprecedented compared to the platforms that were available in early 2017.

Given the difference in the volume and structure of the market in comparison to 2017 and previous years, both Woo and other analysts in the cryptocurrency sector agree that the next bull rally or up cycle for bitcoin will take less time to initiate, possibly in the third quarter of 2018.

Bitcoin Price Drops to $7,300 as Cryptocurrency Market Correction Continues

The bitcoin price has dropped below the $7,300 mark as the valuation of the cryptocurrency market declined by more than $25 billion, from $350 billion to $325 billion over the past 24 hours.
Within the past three days, within merely 72 hours, the valuation of the cryptocurrency market sharply dropped from $390 to $333 billion, losing more than $57 billion. At its previously weekly low, the valuation of the cryptocurrency market dipped to $327 billion. Today, on May 24, the cryptocurrency market fell to a new monthly low.

What is Causing the Market to Drop?

As always, a wide range of factors have contributed to the recent market correction and it is difficult to pinpoint several events as the definitive factors behind the fall of the market. Rather, it as an amalgamation of many events that have occurred throughout the year, which include:

Mt. Gox sell-off

Possible manipulation by large-scale traders in the futures market
Bitfinex taxation policy
Bithumb and UPbit scandal in South Korea
Failure of institutional investors to meet the anticipation of the community
Regulatory uncertainty in several regions
But, it is most likely that the launch of the bitcoin futures market in late 2017 and the manipulation of the cryptocurrency market eventually led the market to become extremely volatile and experience large corrections on a regular basis.

The massive sell-off of bitcoin by the Mt. Gox trustee and a series of negative events from South Korea and the US-led investors to lose confidence in the cryptocurrency market in the short-term.

Earlier today, Bloomberg also reported that the US government and the Justice Department launched an investigation into illicit trading and bitcoin price manipulation.

“The Justice Department has opened a criminal probe into whether traders are manipulating the price of Bitcoin and other digital currencies, dramatically ratcheting up U.S. scrutiny of red-hot markets that critics say are rife with misconduct, according to four people familiar with the matter,” Matt Robinson from Bloomberg reported.

Due to the abnormal volatility in the cryptocurrency market, it is likely that the US government suspects whales and large-scale investors of manipulating the market to drive larger movements on both the upside and downside.

Where Does Bitcoin go From Here?

Yesterday, CCN reported that the breach of the $8,000 resistance level could send the bitcoin price to the lower end of $7,000. Based on the strong downward trend of bitcoin, it is likely that the dominant cryptocurrency dips below $7,000 and reaches $6,900 before rebounding.

Other cryptocurrencies such as Polymath, Ethos, Storm, Zcash, and Waves, which have recorded large gains throughout April and May, declined by 10 to 20 percent against both bitcoin and the US dollar.

Although the Relative Strength Index (RSI) of bitcoin is signifying a neutral zone, it is unlikely that the bitcoin price rebounds before dropping to the lower end of $7,000.

Ethereum, in particular, has experienced a sharp drop over the past 24 hours, declining by more than 10 percent against the US dollar.

Start-Up Uses Blockchain And AI To Offer ‘Trustworthy, Unbiased’ Skincare Advice

A new project aims to rejuvenate the skincare industry by launching a blockchain platform designed to solve problems “experienced by millions of people globally.”

Opu Labs says the vast majority of consumers get advice from social media, friends and product marketers – information which is often biased or too general to take their unique skin type into account. According to its white paper, just 12 percent of people  get recommendations from professional dermatologists, but more than 80 percent would like to do so.

The project wants to provide individuals with “personalized, intelligent treatment options” and recommendations they can trust. It believes its technology could enhance the quality of skincare services while making them available to a broader cross-section of consumers.

Eventually, Opu Labs plans for its technology to be split into five core services.

One of them is Opu AI, a skincare analysis platform which will be free and available as an app for smartphones and web browsers. The company says this software is driven by artificial intelligence and can detect redness, acne, wrinkles, hyperpigmentation and skin tone when provided with a facial image. From here, four regions of the face are scored based on their skin condition. This information can then be used to discover treatments and predict the improvements they would bring.

Other tools are in development

Opu Labs is currently developing an array of other tools – including a real-time search platform which would recommend products to users based on their skin condition and search history. A survey cited by the company suggests over 30 percent of users will spend 10 or more days researching products online before making a purchase decision, but currently face information overload and struggle to verify expertise when using mainstream search engines.

The company is also working on Opu Connect, an engine which would pool the data of users that they opt in. Consumers would be awarded with OPU coins, the ecosystem’s token, if they do so –  skincare companies would get the chance to use this information for the research and development of new products.

Opu CRM would be geared towards skincare professionals – enabling them to hold consultations with patients and create treatment plans. This would be coupled with a blockchain-enabled medical records system  that would allow patient data to be exchanged securely.

“From a dermatologist’s perspective there’s a genuine need to offer their professional expertise to a mass audience. Over 500 mln Facebook users are interested in skincare, yet there’s no quick trusted solution that allows dermatology  professionals to meet the individual needs of these global customers,” the company’s white paper adds.

Tapping into its primary market

Opu Labs believes that 80 percent of the consumers using its platform will be female. The company says its target market is aged between 18 and 35, have internet access, are highly educated and generally spend about $75 a month on skincare products.

In the third quarter of 2018, the company hopes to launch in Asia and release a native version of its app for Android. This would be followed by iOS software and expansion to the US in the following quarter. It hopes the functionality to make treatment recommendations – and a presence in further countries across EU – will be achieved by the end of the year.

A 100 percent bonus on tokens purchased during its presale is being offered until June 26. Its initial coin offering will follow in July.

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