30/10/2018: Biggest Stories in the Cryptosphere

by BlockEx

1. MPs Warned That Bad Crypto Regulation Is Worse Than No Regulation At All

MPs want for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to clamp down on illicit activities taking place in the crypto industry, starting from Bitcoin. However, experts have affirmed that approaching regulations in the wrong way could lead to serious damage to the British crypto market, as other types of assets could be negatively affected as well. The warning was presented under the form of a report co-authored by “the BBFA, law firm Baker Botts, venture capital fund Novum Insights and cryptocurrency exchange TodaQ”. British Business Federation Authority (BBFA) CEO Patrick Curry stated that the wrong attitude could lead to crypto firms relocating abroad and putting the country’s role as FinTech hub in jeopardy. In the document, it was concluded that “bad regulation is worse than no regulation at all”.

2. Stablecoins Not Considered Cryptocurrencies By Japan

The Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA), the country main regulator, has stated that, under current law, stablecoins cannot be considered cryptocurrencies. In fact, they do not meet the Fund Settlement Law and the Payment Services Act’s definition of cryptocurrency and, therefore, do not fell under their jurisdiction. The former defines a cryptocurrency as a form of payment exempt from any taxation, while the latter requires for crypto exchanges to register with the FSA. Due to how stablecoins differ from cryptocurrencies, the regulator is not sure of which requirements companies issuing them should meet. “Generally speaking, companies need to register as the ‘Issuer of Prepaid Payment Instruments’ or the ‘Funds Transfer Service Providers’ based on Payment Services Act, when virtual currency broker dealers trade stable coins.”

3. Tanzania’s Govt To Look Into Blockchain

We previously reported on many African countries looking into blockchain technology and crypto. Previous articles include Bitcoin growing popularity among African millennials and how blockchain technology could revolutionise the political scene in the continent. It has now been revealed that the government of Tanzania is researching the new technology. Although it will be a gradual process, the country will study the distributed ledger technology (DLT), blockchain included. The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Commission was asked by the Government Official Dr. Jim Yonazi to help assess how these technology could benefit the country. The findings would then be used to design the country’s crypto regulatory framework. In the past years, issues such as data management led the African continent to look for alternative solutions such as blockchain. Frequent topics of discussions have been “for voting, natural resources, land administration, authenticity certificates, e-commerce, media, and agriculture.”

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