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EU to Launch Comprehensive Crypto Regulation by 2024: Report

20/09/2020 by Idelto Editor

The European Union is planning to implement comprehensive cryptocurrency regulation by 2024, two EU reports have reportedly revealed. This follows five European finance ministers calling on the European Commission to put in place “very strong and very clear rules” on cryptocurrency.

EU Crypto Regulation Coming Soon

A comprehensive cryptocurrency regulatory framework is expected to be put in place within four years, according to two EU documents, Reuters reported Friday, elaborating:

By 2024, the EU should put in place a comprehensive framework enabling the uptake of distributed ledger technology (DLT) and crypto-assets in the financial sector.

“By 2024, the principle of passporting and a one-stop-shop licensing should apply in all areas which hold strong potential for digital finance,” the documents further state.

According to Euractiv, a pan-European publication specializing in EU policies, the European Commission will publish the Digital Finance Strategy together with its new rules on cryptocurrencies later this month. They outline the Commission’s priority actions by 2024.

In addition to the existing cryptocurrency proposal, European Commission Executive Vice-President in charge of Economy and Finance Valdis Dombrovskis said the Commission may also update “the prudential rules for crypto-assets held by financial firms, which could force banks with these digital assets to hold more capital as a cushion, given the volatility and risks associated with these assets,” Euractiv described.

The two documents note that the draft law will clarify how existing rules apply to cryptocurrencies and set out new rules where there are gaps, Reuters explained, adding that it “should also address the risks associated with these technologies.” The documents also detail that the Commission “wants to make it easier to share data within the financial sector to encourage competition and a wider range of services, while upholding the principle of ‘same risk, same rules, same regulation,’” the news outlet conveyed.

Moreover, the European Commission wants to increase the use of digital finance as 78% of payments in the eurozone are currently in cash, the publication noted, adding that the new rules should be in place within four years so new customers can start “using financial services quickly once anti-money laundering and identity checks have been completed.”

Last week, the finance ministers of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain called on the European Commission to include “strong rules” in its upcoming cryptocurrency proposal, particularly for global digital tokens like Facebook’s Libra. In a joint statement, they said stablecoins should not be allowed to operate in the EU countries until legal, regulatory and oversight challenges had been addressed. “We’re waiting for the Commission to issue very strong and very clear rules to avoid the misuse of cryptocurrencies for terrorist activities or for money laundering,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire was quoted as saying.

What do you think about the EU’s plans to regulate the crypto industry by 2024? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Report: Blockchain Patents ‘Skyrocket’ in 2020, Alibaba Owns the Most Crypto Patents

20/09/2020 by Idelto Editor

A study from the team at Kisspatent shows that Alibaba Group is the largest blockchain patent holder in 2020 capturing 10x the number of patents held by IBM. The report notes that blockchain patents “are skyrocketing” this year and so far in 2020, there’s been more distributed ledger technology and cryptocurrency patents published than all of 2019.

It seems distributed ledger technology and cryptocurrency solution patents are becoming a thing again in 2020. A few years ago various reports said that Bank of America (BoA) and the firm Nchain were gobbling up all the patents applied to digital assets and blockchain technology.

Times have changed in 2020, and both companies have slid down the ranks as far as top blockchain holders are concerned this year.

Kisspatent’s latest study shows that Alibaba Group was the top company this year with successful blockchain patent filing and IBM jumped significantly. Alibaba Group is the top blockchain patent holder while the Chinese multinational technology company is followed by the financial institution BoA.

While Alibaba and IBM were the top two blockchain patent filing contenders in 2020, Alibaba outpaced IBM by 10x the number of patents. Moreover, this year has already seen “3 times more blockchain patents published than in 2018.”

Behind IBM, is Mastercard, Nchain, and Walmart respectively in terms of blockchain patents held. The Kisspatent research noted that the list of top blockchain patent holders was not really represented by distributed ledger-specific firms.

“Blockchain-only companies are not filing for patents, Fortune500 companies are,” Kisspatent researcher Dr. D’vorah Graeser notes. Interestingly, the firm Nchain, the infamous company that the self-proclaimed Bitcoin inventor Craig Wright works for, is a “the only pure blockchain company.”

Kisspatent highlights that Nchain’s claims are based on numbers said in a press release, but “[the number] could include many that haven’t published yet, plus they may be counting international applications filed in multiple countries as separate patent application filings,” Graeser says.

Graeser’s list seems incomplete as it does not include firms like Reechain, Webank, and Tencent. Chinadaily.com shows that these three Chinese firms are top blockchain patent holders.

According to the regional publication’s estimates, IBM has 240 blockchain patents, Rechain 279, Webank 282, and Nchain has 402 patents total. Chinadaily.com’s list shows Tencent has a significant number of distributed ledger patents with 724 to-date. Alibaba Group is still king with a whopping 1,505 blockchain patent filings.

What do you think about the top blockchain patent holders in 2020? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

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Market Outlook: Bitcoin Breaks $11K, Whales Refuse to Sell, Downside Risk Remains

19/09/2020 by Idelto Editor

The price of bitcoin jumped above the $11k threshold on Saturday morning and into the afternoon, after hovering above the $10,900 range the day prior. The entire crypto-economy of 7,600+ coins has gained 2.29% during the last 24 hours touching $344 billion.

Bitcoin (BTC) markets have surpassed key levels above the $11k mark on Saturday, as the cryptocurrency has seen close to $4 billion in global trade volume. A number of people are watching the current price range and believe the $11,000 region is a key zone to watch. One trader explains that BTC has a number of price hurdles ahead to remain bullish in the short term.

“Seeing a lot of people bullish on [bitcoin (BTC)] in the short term, but unless it gets above $11,100 and then $11,500— I think there’s still [a] real risk of short term downside,” @Dirkcryptodiggy tweeted.

The crypto economy had a decent day on Saturday gaining 2.29% during the last 24 hours. However, digital currency trade volume on the global level has dropped by 23% this weekend.

Data from the blockchain analytics firm, Cryptoquant shows that BTC whales are possibly waiting for better prices. Cryptoquant’s CEO, Ki Young Ju discussed the situation concerning ‘BTC whales’ on Thursday.

“Exchange Whale Ratio hits the year low—the fewer whales moving to exchanges, the less dumping, and makes [a] higher BTC price,” Ki Young Ju said.

The Cryptoquant chart shared by the company’s CEO Ki Young Ju on Thursday shows fewer whales are moving to exchanges.

“Exchange Whale Ratio is the relative size of the top 10 inflows to total inflows by day of each exchange,” the analytics firm CEO added. “I used the weighted average for all exchanges.”

Meanwhile, the very next day, Cryptoquant’s Telegram channel alerts noted “unusual miner outflows” with 632 BTC in aggregated outflows from miners on Friday. The data shows a majority of the BTC miner outflow stemmed from the mining pool called Poolin. The mining operation Poolin is the network’s top mining pool with 18.9% of BTC’s global hashrate.

BTC’s total SHA256 hashrate on Saturday is a whopping 140 exahash per second (EH/s). Since August 23, 2020, the bitcoin (BTC) hashrate jumped 27.27% from a low of 110 EH/s, to today’s all-time high (ATH).

The top six crypto assets in the digital currency economy on September 19, 2020, at 5:15 p.m. (ET).

Furthermore, BTC dominance, the metric that measures bitcoin’s (BTC) market capitalization against the valuations of the rest of the crypto market economy is over 58%. Bitcoin (BTC) is up 6% during the last seven days and 19% for the last 90 days.

Ethereum (ETH) is trading for $385 per coin and is down 0.7% for the last seven days but is still up 68% for the last 90 days. Bitcoin cash (BCH) is trading for $233 per BCH and is up 1.2% this week and 1.14% for the 90-day span.

The biggest gainer on Saturday was a coin called kambria (KAT) which jumped 50% during the last 24 hours and sashimi (SASHIMI) saw a 42% gain today. Swerve (SWRV) was the weekend’s biggest loser suffering a loss of 36%, while pillar (PLR) dropped 27% in value.

What do you think about this week’s market action and bitcoin (BTC) spiking over the $11k mark? Let us know in the comments section below.

The post Market Outlook: Bitcoin Breaks $11K, Whales Refuse to Sell, Downside Risk Remains appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Gibraltar Updates Distributed Ledger Framework to Align With FATF Crypto Regulations

19/09/2020 by Idelto Editor

The Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC) has updated its guidance notes for distributed ledger technology (DLT) providers to include recommendations for risk management, as well as clarify aspects around the issuance of digital assets.

In a statement released on September 17, the regulator said the new updates are part of an ongoing effort to adapt its regulatory framework to include the latest Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations for virtual asset service providers.

Gibraltar, which has been criticized by the European Union for not doing enough to curb money laundering in the past, particularly in its DLT rules, describes the update as a “natural evolution of the defined regulatory principles.”

According to the GRSC, the guidance notes update the risk framework to “distinguish between virtual assets and virtual asset denominated instruments that are generally classified as higher risk and require additional factors or onboarding tests to be considered.”

Amendments to new token issuances prevent DLT providers from utilizing internally generated token reserves as part of its regulatory capital requirements. In total, the regulator has updated seven out of the nine guiding principles supporting the existing framework, launched in 2018.

Gibraltar’s Minister for Digital and Financial Services, Albert Isola, commented:

Prospective licensees must demonstrate a clear appreciation of the nine core principles underpinning the regulatory framework, covering areas such as corporate governance, capital adequacy, risk management, customer care, and in due course, market manipulation. Other essential prerequisites include thorough internal risk management strategies, robust corporate governance structures, and well-defined protocols, with secure checks in place to ensure the protection of clients’ assets is prioritised.

Currently, 13 DLT providers are licensed under the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission, including international platforms Etoro, Huobi, Xapo, and Bitso.

What do you think about Gibraltar’s updated DLT framework? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Analyst: 1,500 Bitcoins Lost Every Day, Less Than 14 Million Coins Will Ever Circulate

19/09/2020 by Idelto Editor

A cryptocurrency analyst, Timothy Peterson claims that 1,500 bitcoins are lost each day meaning only 14 million BTC will ever circulate. The figure is at odds with the estimate of many organizations including Markets.bitcoin.com which place the figure at 18.5 million coins.

Still, Peterson, who is the CAIA Manager at Cane Island Alternative Advisors, argues the merits of his assertions by pointing to how this average daily loss dwarfs the 900 bitcoins that are mined every day.

Furthermore, to support his contention, Peterson points to a research note published by his organization earlier in the year. In the five paged document, the term “irretrievably lost” is introduced to the bitcoin lexicon.

Explaining the term, the research note says irretrievably lost bitcoins represent funds or “money (that) is gone, it is no longer part of any economy anywhere.” The document adds that such bitcoins “are unable to be transacted and the cost of recovery exceeds the value obtained from successful retrieval.”

According to Bitcoin.com Support, “all bitcoin transactions are irreversible, so there is no way to reverse a transaction that has already been sent.” Indeed, there are numerous cases of individuals that have misplaced or lost private keys thus losing access to their funds permanently. Earlier in the week, News.Bitcoin.com published the story of how hackers have been trying for years to crack a bitcoin wallet that is believed to contain 69,370 coins, which cannot be accessed.

Meanwhile, after arguing their case, the team at Cane Island Alternative Advisors goes to say that based on own methodology used in prior research, they were able to estimate that:

Since 2010, about 4% of the Available Supply of bitcoin has been lost each year. This puts the current Available Supply at about 13.9 million coins, well below the 18.3 million Total Supply figure publicized. This means that about 28% of all bitcoins have been Irretrievably Lost.

To buttress their claims, the team at Cane Island Alternative Advisors refers to earlier studies on the same subject, first by Ratliff in 2014 and Chainalysis in 2017. The Cane Island Alternative Advisors was released on April 16, 2020.

Meanwhile, some bitcoiners challenged Peterson following his September 14 tweet about bitcoin’s diminishing supply. Others like the Bitcoin Rabbi felt the figure of 1,500 bitcoins getting lost every day is very high.

However, in his response, Peterson says:

“(The) Chainalysis report, if you do the math, says 1900 per day a/o Dec 2017. My numbers are more conservative than that.”

Still, the research note does not provide links to the Chainalysis report in question. Another Twitter user questions the research findings arguing that they “imply that in 30 years all 21 million bitcoin are lost.”

While some argue that Peterson’s claims are an exaggeration, there is an agreement that the actual figure of circulating supply could be lower than the often reported 18.5 million.

What do you think is the correct figure of bitcoin in circulation? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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