Author: Anna Galvez

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Crypto News

Foreign Crypto Exchange Platforms And Crypto-Related Events Banned In China

Chinese government officials issued a statement informing that all commercial activities related to cryptocurrencies, such as conferences, chats or forums, may not take place in hotels, shopping malls, or offices. The document, published by the government of Beijing’s Chaoyang district, orders local financial authorities and the police to ban such events that could promote the negotiation and exchange of cryptocurrencies. The measure also targets foreign crypto exchange platforms.

Local media, economists, and members of the Chinese Bitcoin (BTC) community broadcast, through social networks, the announcement that circulates since Wednesday. The new government measure could now be aimed at restricting the closest channels of communication among ecosystem enthusiasts, according to an analysis by Dovey Wan, director of Dhanua Capital, a California-based venture capital fund.

Wan explained that although the measure is being taken in Beijing’s Chaoyang district, the decision sets the tone at the national level, so there is no need for a new document to be published to stipulate this.

The announcement comes 24 hours after the WeChat messaging service, owned by Chinese mobile phone and Internet company Tencent, blocked accounts of blockchain and cryptocurrency companies in China.

China blocked the operation of foreign crypto exchange platforms

After banning the development of events related to cryptocurrencies and banning the crypto-related accounts in WeChat, the Chinese government also announced yesterday, August 23rd, that it is ready to block more than 120 foreign crypto exchange platforms operating in the country, which can be considered as a new governmental escalation to restrict the commercialization of cryptos.

The news was released by the Shanghai Securities News, an affiliate of local financial regulators, while other online news portals highlighted that the authorities would continue to monitor and shut down websites dedicated to crypto trading and the Initial Coin Offerings (ICO).

On the one hand, the Chinese government maintains strict control over the ICOs, which have been banned by the Central Bank, while on the other hand, it imposes severe restrictions on the crypto trade platforms operating across China.

However, the nation accepts blockchain technologies, as the president Xi Jinping said that DLT “accelerates progress in implementation and creates new areas in the life sciences.”

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German Bank To Operate A Cryptocurrency Trading Platform Based On Artificial Intelligence

Valens Bank, a German bank, and the Swedish IT company, Stockholm IT Ventures (SITV), announced that a subsidiary of the latter, Blocktrade Technology Ltd (BTT), signed an agreement with Valens Bank for the use of BTT’s software, Crypto Trading Toolbox, for a cryptocurrency trading platform based on Artificial Intelligence.

According to the agreement, BTT will receive an annual license payment equivalent to 1.5% of the capital invested in Valens Bank’s trading program, says a press release. “The partners will work intensively in the coming weeks to integrate their IT infrastructures, which will allow the official launch of this platform in September 2018,” said the firm.

Valens Bank, which is defined as a “multi-currency financial services startup,” says that this is its second agreement with SITV in the area of cryptocurrency services. “We are very pleased to work with Stockholm IT Ventures and Blocktrade Technology’s innovative approach to crypto asset management,” said Valens Bank Director, Torben Pedersen.

The German bank will develop a cryptocurrency trading platform based on Artificial Intelligence

The bank already offered cryptocurrency custody services to its private and corporate clients. “We allow customers to store the following cryptocurrencies: BTC – Bitcoin, BCH – Bitcoin Cash, ETH – Ethereum and LTC – Litecoin,” says the bank.

On the other hand, the BTT’s Crypto Trading Toolbox software allows professional traders to “actively manage their clients’ assets” through Artificial Intelligence-based trading tools, according to the Blocktrade Technology website.

This company points out that its team of analysts, developers and traders have tested software’s bots, as well as the market signals and indicators to fine-tune this predictive tool. “Our goal has been to understand which assets are profitable and to detect scams or discard useless tools,” the company says.

Besides providing software for crypto trading and management of investment funds based on these types of assets, SITV has also invested in cryptocurrency mining. Last January it bought for 200 million EUR 50% of Cryptotech, a Norwegian company dedicated to the design of chips for crypto mining, which also has plans to install mining equipment in the Scandinavian country.

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Tencent Banned WeChat Accounts Of Big Blockchain And Cryptocurrency Companies

The accounts of several companies related to blockchain technology and cryptocurrency in China have been banned from WeChat, the messaging application that belongs to the Chinese mobile and Internet company, Tencent.

According to information published in the local media, the accounts of companies that disseminate information related to this sector were permanently blocked in the application for allegedly releasing information regarding Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and cryptocurrencies market, in general.

WeChat banned the accounts of dozens of blockchain and cryptocurrency companies, including some big names

According to the press release issued by Tencent, the crypto- and blockchain-related accounts banned from WeChat were violating the “Interim Provisions on the Development of Public Information Services for Instant Messaging Tools.” The list includes Deepchain, Huobi News, Jinse, CoinDaily, Golden Finance, Firecoin Information, Cannon Rating, Coin World Express Service, Daily Currency Reading, TokenClub, and Wujie Block Chain, among others.

In this regard, the CoinDaily website, one of the affected companies, stated that they had more than 100,000 registered users on WeChat and that they were building and operating a community of 45 groups within the app. They claim that their accounts are market-driven, while they only provide qualified information.

Tencent company, WeChat devs, works closely with the Chinese government

The WeChat messaging application is one of the most popular in China and is considered the “Chinese WhatsApp.” Until now, it was one of the few tools that allowed Chinese citizens to participate in the cryptocurrency market and access news on this topic, given the ban on ICOs and related advertising in China.

However, its system facilitates the censorship of the contents published on its platform, since Tencent recognizes that it shares data on its users with the Chinese government and that it eliminates the content that the regime considers inappropriate. Last May, Tencent suspended the Xiai Xiexi, a new blockchain-based app that would allow WeChat users to store contractual agreements.

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Bank Of Thailand To Launch Its Own Cryptocurrency On Corda Centralized Blockchain Of The R3 Consortium

The Central Bank of Thailand announced its plans for the issuance of a national cryptocurrency on Corda blockchain of the R3 consortium for a centralized issuance. The project aims to facilitate interbank arrangements throughout the region. The press release, issued by the financial institution on August 21st, indicates that the project is called Inthanon and is a “collaborative milestone” for the entire nation, as it brings together eight of Thailand’s most recognized banking agencies and public companies.

The cryptocurrency, which will be known as the Central Bank’s Digital Currency (CBDC), will specialize in making interbank arrangements and savings bonds throughout the region, using the Bank of Thailand as the central entity.

“The BoT and the participating banks will design and develop a collaborative prototype proof-of-concept for the wholesale transfer of funds through the wholesale issuance of Central Bank Digital Currency (wholesale CBDC). The prototype will be built on Corda, a DLT platform developed by R3 consortium,” stated the Central Bank of Thailand.

Bank of Thailand to launch the national cryptocurrency CBDC on Corda centralized blockchain

Corda is one of the most popular centralized business blockchain technology in the ecosystem. The platform is an open source tool that is centrally managed. In other words, their nodes are private and controlled by the company, a modality that is harshly critical for the community because it goes against the idea of decentralization that many in the cryptocurrency community still defend.

In this sense, all native cryptos on this blockchain are managed, issued and supervised by a central entity, making it an advanced technological tool, but not an innovative financial project since it does not depart from the business model of traditional banking.

Some consider that, although the project of the Central Bank of Thailand is positive for the adoption of cryptocurrencies at the international level, the Central Bank’s Digital Currency (CBDC) will not be a cryptocurrency running on a public blockchain, but rather “a digital fiat,” that is a replacement of a national currency in a digital format.

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Canada Launches Its Own Blockchain Explorer On The Ethereum (ETH) Blockchain

Canada National Research Council, through its Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP), announced that it has successfully implemented its Ethereum (ETH) blockchain explorer for the transparent administration of grants and other government contributions. Through a press release, the Council reported that the application was developed by startup Bitaccess, Inc., and maintains it hosted in its file system, known as InterPlanetary or IPFS.

The Council’s goal is for users to use the platform to access grant information and test the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT) to search for grants in Ethereum (ETH) blockchain instantly.

“Since its launch, NRC-IRAP has explored new ways to expand its blockchain experiment and reliably share data with the public. The program now hosts your block string browser application in the File System (IPFS),” said the National Research Council of Canada in a statement.

Meanwhile, Bitaccess reported in a statement that to develop this project have implemented Catena Blockchain Suite, a tool that supports the browser itself in the local file system.

“The browser application is similar to a search engine, allowing users to instantly find Ethereum (ETH) blockchain to obtain the information that is being actively published,” the company added.

Canada aims for more transparency on cryptocurrency, especially regarding the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain

The Government of Canada announced last January that it was going to experiment with Ethereum (ETH) blockchain in real time with the aim of making available the data on subsidies and third-party contributions made to the Canadian government. The NRC-IRAP made one of these main proposals.

Canada has shown a great interest in developing cryptocurrency technology for sectors as diverse as agriculture and ICO regulation and has also considered issuing digital assets.

Blockchain explorers are tools that users can employ to query operations and events in a specific blockchain. That is because each transaction’s data is recorded and protected in the blockchain, meaning that any party involved can consult the information without changing it.

Among the data that can be consulted in the blockchain explorers are the following, there are the date and time of the transaction, block height, transactions, confirmations, the amount of cryptocurrency involved, as well as the amount of memory occupied by the transactions inserted in the same block.

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