Cardano Publishes New Whitepaper On Proof of Stake, And Saudi Arabia Completes Blockchain Pilot…

The State of The Market — January 3, 2018BTC: $3,893.42 (+0.75%)XRP: $151.16 (+0.16%)ETH: $0.365837 (-0.35%)

The market remains unchanged after yesterday’s gains. Less than $1 Billion was added to the total market cap in the last 24 hours. Bitcoin is holding on to its support at $3,800 and making its way up to $4,000. Meanwhile, Ethereum is still stable above $150. A push above $170 would solidify it as a support. The top 15 cryptocurrencies have changed by less than 2% in the last 24 hours.

In other news, the South African (SA) government has formed a regulatory working group tasked with conducting research and developing a framework for regulating the exchange and taxation of digital assets. Tito Mboweni, South Africa’s finance minister, said that “the crypto assets regulatory working group will be ready to release a final research paper on the subject” and Mboweni explained that the SA Revenue Service is looking into including cryptocurrencies on tax forms next year and this would ensure that losses can only be offset against profits from crypto. Also, Japanese ecommerce giant DDM.com has shut down its crypto mining business. The decision was taken in September 2018, and the process of shutting down will extend over the first half of 2019. The company started mining in September 2017. With a large mining farm in the city of Kanazawa, they focused on Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC). However, the decision to shut down was made due to falling profits.

1) IOHK has just published a whitepaper on one of Cardano’s most anticipated upgrades, a Proof of Stake mechanism called Ouroboros. Lead engineer Sebastien Guillemot called it a crucial step to facilitate sidechains on the network. The whitepaper describes it as a tantalizingly viable way of scaling blockchain and permitting interoperability. It also comes with a security feature called “firewall,” which reduces collateral damage on sidechain failures and attacks. (Read More)

2) Saudi Arabia has successfully concluded a trial of a blockchain-based cross-border trade platform. The FASAH platform interfaces with IBM and Maersk’s TradeLens blockchain platform and is designed to support digital supply chains. Saudi Customs governor Ahmed Alhakbani said the “pilot comes in line with our strategy that aims to facilitate trade and establish the Kingdom as one of the world’s premier logistics hubs.” Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are both aggressively pursuing the integration of blockchain technology and the local development of the blockchain industry. Saudi Arabia and UAE also recently created a joint cryptocurrency for interbank transactions. (Read More)

3) The Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission (PSEC) has decided to delay launching its initial coin offering (ICO) regulatory framework. The framework and legislation were scheduled to be released before the beginning of 2019 but a collective of stakeholders requested additional time to review the draft ICO rules. The regulatory body responsible for developing the rules determined that tokens issued through the ICO process should be classified as securities and “therefore, these should be registered with the Commission and necessary disclosures need to be made for the protection of the investing public.” The PSEC also concluded that the issuance of security tokens to less than 20 people, banks, investment houses, insurance companies, and pension funds are not required to register as an ICO. (Read More)

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