Cryptocurrency Exchange Coinbase May Apply for a Banking License

Cryptocurrency brokerage firm Coinbase has met with US regulators to discuss applying for a banking license, according to an anonymous source familiar with the matter.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the firm, one of the largest in the cryptocurrency industry, met with regulators at the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in early 2018 to discuss applying for a national banking charter, which preempts state-level financial regulations. Coinbase did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Acquiring a banking license would expand the line of services that Coinbase could offer its customers and would remove the need for it to find a banking partner willing to work with a firm that offers cryptocurrency trading.

It would also help Coinbase’s sales pitch to the large institutions it hopes to attract to its platforms. The firm has begun to roll out a wide variety of products for institutional investors — including cryptoasset custody — but many institutions feel more comfortable working with custody partners that have conventional banking licenses.

The report also states that cryptocurrency financial services startup ivyKoin met with officials at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in recent weeks, a meeting that ivyKoin President Gary Fan has publicly confirmed.

However, applying for a banking license would also subject these firms to a litany of new regulations, perhaps offsetting the benefits.

“Most fintechs come to us because they have heard of this thing called a national banking charter that gives them pre-emption across state lines,” the publication cites Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting as saying at an industry meeting last month. “When they come and they speak to us, and they understand what it really takes to be a bank, they kind of glaze over and often leave skid marks leaving the building.”

As CCN reported, Coinbase is said to have approached the SEC about becoming a registered broker-dealer. The company is also one of only five firms that have received New York’s BitLicense, which is required to facilitate cryptocurrency trading in the highly-regulated state.

China Takes Another Step Forward in Promoting Blockchain Innovation

The China Center for Information Industry Development (CCID) of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in Beijing announced its first monthly Global Public Chain Assessment Index at a recent conference. The platform is designed to offer detailed reviews of global blockchain projects by renowned experts in academia, industry and government bodies.

Previously, the CCID had established the Blockchain Research Institute and the China Ecological Blockchain Alliance, which are assigned to strengthen industry, policy research and blockchain technology. The organizations also provide software research and testing to China's government.

The conference introduced blockchain experts to the CCID's latest work in public chain identification. The association's Blockchain Research Institute has garnered most of its data through the cooperation of the CCID Think Tank, the China Software Testing Center and other departments built to scientifically evaluate global public chain technology and further blockchain innovation. In the future, the CCID hopes to provide professional consulting services to blockchain businesses, government branches, technology developers and research institutes, thus paving the way for further blockchain adoption.

During the event, representatives stated what was necessary to identify public chain objects:

An application must possess its own independent main chain.

Any entity should be able to freely create and operate a full node on the network.

It should have a published block explorer where information is easily tracked.

It must run on open-source code.

Its primary team members should be easy to contact through its website.

These regulations have allowed the organization to identify several public chain objects including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Cardano and NEO, among others. The first Global Public Chain Assessment will be formally announced this coming week, while the CCID's website will serve as its official publishing platform.

The conference was hosted by Dr. Songtao Pu of the CCID Think Tank. Additional panelists included Dr. Qian Liu from the organization's software institute, Dr. Tao Lv from the China Software Testing Center, and Anlei Wei from the CCID Blockchain Research Institute.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in China was established in 2008 as a government body under the country's state council to administer China's industrial branches and information industry. Its primary duties include determining China's industrial planning, standards and policies; promoting the development of major equipment and innovation in China's communications arena; guiding the construction of information systems; and instilling necessary protection for these systems.

Serving directly under the Ministry, the CCID seeks to develop information industries in China and bridge the gaps between government and business ventures by providing research, evaluations and certifications to ongoing data projects.

RBI Crackdown Drives Crypto Businesses Overseas

The crackdown on cryptocurrencies initiated by the RBI has reportedly comprised a catalyst for the migration of numerous Indian cryptocurrency companies and ICOs seeking favorable regulatory jurisdictions.

With India's banking sector prohibited from providing financial services to businesses dealing in cryptocurrencies, many of India's crypto companies have been left with no choice but to relocate overseas.

Estonian E-Residency Program Attracts Indian Crypto Entrepreneurs

According to a report by Factor Daily, Estonia has emerged as a popular destination among Indian cryptocurrency entrepreneurs. Launched in 2014, Estonia's e-residency programme provides a simple avenue through which companies can become based in the eastern-European nation. Estonia also offers favorable taxation and regulatory apparatus for cryptocurrency and blockchain companies.

Nilesh Trivedi, the founder of Indium, is currently completing his e-residency application for Estonia Mr. Trivedi states that he would "ideally like to diversify from India given the way things are moving here in regard to cryptocurrency and the blockchain space. It's too uncertain."

Mr. Trivedi states that the e-residency "will just cost me 100 Euros for three years and I can renew it again after that," adding that "the tax regime there is good." Mr. Trivedi also notes that "Being registered [in Estonia] will also allow [him] to offer other services and conduct business in the EU."

Signal - BTC UPDATE

#BTC Update

Technical Wise We are Seeing #BTC forming a Head and Shoulder Formation and That's The Main Reason BTC Dumped to 8500 USD Area

8500 Having A Good Support, If Breaks Then 8000-8300

But 8500 is a Strong Support To Break Keep That in Mind

And So Far BTC Respecting This 8500 Support and Bouncing Off, But We Need to Wait for Few More Hrs. and Need to Keep Our Eyes on BTC Wheather it Breaks 8500 or Goes Up from This Support

Here is 👆 The BTC Technical Analysis in 4Hr. Time Frame. 

Crypto Signals Coin LRC

Signal

Coin : #LRC
Buy zone = 0.00008000-8250

Sell = 8600-9000-9400-9800-10300-10800-11500-12000+++

Crypto Signal Coin ENGF

Signal

Coin : #ENG
Buy zone = 0.00027000-30100

Sell = 0.00032000-35000-37500-
40000++
Big news for #ENG
Enigma (ENG) and 1 other

NY Meetup
(Meet the developers of Enigma and Zilliqa on Tuesday, May 15th, in New York City (venue to be announced).

Investor: Banks [Goldman Sachs] Entering Crypto Will Lead to Bitcoin Price Surge

Jon Matonis, a co-founder of Bitcoin Foundation and executive at VISA, stated that the entrance of major banks and financial institutions like Goldman Sachs will lead to an increase in the liquidity of bitcoin, and ultimately, the bitcoin price.

“I think it’s fabulous that they’re getting into it because it brings in new liquidity. They’re going to develop futures markets, options markets, I even think you’re going to start to see interest rate markets around bitcoin. We’re used to hearing things about Libor, the index for bitcoin interest rates is Bibor,” said Matonis.

When Will Banks Enter?

The cryptocurrency market is extremely volatile, both on the upside and downside. One of the primary reasons behind the extreme volatility of the market is its lack of liquidity. The daily trading volume of bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies has substantially declined since a major correction occurred in January, along with the bitcoin price.

A significant drop in the daily volume of bitcoin has allowed whales and institutional investors in the futures market to manipulate the market, which is one of the reasons as to why the market has demonstrated correlated price movements over the past few months.

Recently, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe) has proposed to the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) to allow bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on US stock markets like Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The entrance of large financial institutions like Goldman Sachs will lead to more institutional and retail traders entering the cryptocurrency space.

As of current, the demand from institutional investors in the US is relatively high, but actual capital coming in to the cryptocurrency market from the public finance industry is almost non-existent. In Japan however, institutional investors are investing large sums of money in cryptocurrencies through trading platforms that specifically address retail traders.

Matonis further emphasized that to the skeptics that have described bitcoin as a bubble, bitcoin is not a bubble, but a pin that would pop the global financial bubble. He stated that equity markets and bond markets are the multi-trillion dollar bubbles that would inevitably burst in the mid-term.

“To the people who say bitcoin’s a bubble, I would say bitcoin is the pin that’s going to pop the bubble. The bubble is the insane bond markets and the fake equity markets that are propped up by the central banks. Those are the bubbles,” Matonis added.

It is uncertain though when major financial institutions will be ready to enter the market. Critically, the cryptocurrency market’s image over the past few months has been portrayed as a gambling ecosystem, especially by the mainstream media in regions like South Korea. If the market recovers in the short-term and cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin rebound to their all-time highs, banks will prepare to address the growing demand towards the market.

Bear Cycle

In a bear cycle or a slump, financial institutions will not be hurrying to enter the market, unless they want to establish themselves at the forefront of cryptocurrency development prior to their competitors. It would take at least a few months to see major banks enter the space. But, when they do, the cryptocurrency market will be equipped with significant liquidity and public investment vehicles.

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.