FATF to Include Crypto Brokers in Japan Audit + 8 More Crypto News
Crypto Briefs is your daily bite-sized digest of cryptocurrency and blockchain-related news – keeping you up-to-date with under the radar crypto news from around the world.
Regulation news
- Sankei Biz reports that the G7’s Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will audit the Japanese financial sector on money laundering protocols for the first time in 11 years – and says the FAFT will include cryptocurrency brokerages and exchanges in its audit. The audit will run until mid-November, and the FAFT will publish its findings in summer 2020. The FATF will also examine the operations of the country’s top cryptocurrency regulator, the Financial Services Agency.
Digital fiats news
- Huang Qifan, vice chairman of CCIEE (China Center for International Economic Exchanges) said recently that China’s central bank is close to developing its blockchain-based financial technology and will be the first in the world to officially roll out a usable digital currency, Pandaily reported. “The People’s Bank of China has been studying DCEP (digital currency electronic payment) for five or six years, and I think the technology has matured,” he was quoted as saying.
- After running an op-ed piece by ex-Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo on October 16 extolling the virtues of a proposed digital version of the United States dollar, the Wall Street Journal has published a response piece by the former vice president of the St Louis Federal Reserve. The ex-Fed chief, Daniel Thornton stated that the “digital dollar and crypto won’t make transactions cheaper or more efficient,” although he conceded that America’s “sanctions-happy foreign policy” had alienated “many of our former allies” – hinting that such factors could push many nations toward cryptocurrency and digital fiats.
Blockchain news
- The Kakao Group has welcomed in another major international cryptocurrency exchange to its Klaytn blockchain platform. Per an official announcement, OKEx says it has become a Klaytn “ecosystems partner.” The news comes just days after Kakao announced that Binance had become an official Klaytn Alliance partner. Huobi Wallet, the crypto wallet arm of the Huobi Group, another former China-based exchange, also recently joined Klaytn as a partner.
- South Korea’s Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA), a group that answers to the country’s Ministry of Science, says it wants to expand the scope of its 12 private-public sector blockchain pilots. KISA says it intends to move from short term projects to “medium and long-term” pilots as the government seeks to bolster the blockchain sector and cut inefficiency. INews24 reports that KISA says the 12 pilots are “on average 80% complete.”
- South Korean blockchain firm Medium claims it is the world’s fastest-growing Korean company after its token was listed today on the DAX, Dcoin and Probit exchanges today. Per Daily Secu, Medium claims its initial exchange offering (IEO) has raised USD 426 million so far. Last week, the company was chosen as a blockchain solutions provider for national education records by the Chinese government.
- Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin is set to speak about blockchain at the Samsung Developer Conference. The event kicks off tomorrow in San Jose, and per Energy Kyungjae, Buterin will speak about trends and challenges inherent to blockchain-based platforms. The same media outlet says that Samsung will likely make blockchain-related announcements and will speak about expanding support for blockchain-powered functions on its smartphones.
- Ethereum is planning its next major upgrade to the mainnet, named Istanbul, on the week of December 4th, but should there be an issue, Istanbul’s mainnet activation would be delayed to January 8th. The Ethereum core developers have made that decision during their call on October 25th. Following the call, Danno Ferrin, blockchain protocol engineer at Ethereum venture studio ConsenSys, proposed in a chat room for Istanbul to be activated at block number 9,056,000, which is in accordance to the planned date of December 4th.
Investment news
- Zamna, formerly known as VChain Technology – a VC-backed software company which uses blockchain to share and verify passenger identity data between airlines and travel authorities, such as governments and security agencies – has raised USD 5 million in a seed funding round. According to siliconrepublic, the round was led by LocalGlobe and Oxford Capital, with participation from Seedcamp, the London Co-Investment Fund (LCIF), Telefonica, and a number of influential angel investors, as well as the existing investor International Airlines Group (IAG).
