China To Regulate Blockchain Firms And US Congressman Recommends Light Touch Crypto Regulations

The State of The Market — January 11, 2019BTC: $3,685.32 (-3.53%)XRP: $0.332450 (-3.85%)ETH: $125.80 (-5.94%)

The crypto market experienced its biggest single-day loss since November after more than $16 Billion was wiped off. It was led by Bitcoin, which failed to hold on to its support at $4,000 and $3,800. Also, XRP has once again overtaken Ethereum to become the second largest cryptocurrency and the difference in their market caps has widened to $500 Million as Ethereum continues to fall below $150. Most major coins are down by 3–6% and there are no signs of a bounce-back yet.

In other news, Charles Hoskinson, the creator of Cardano revealed that IOHK is leaving Hong Kong for Wyoming. IOHK is a for-profit company to build on Cardano ecosystem. Wyoming’s new governor Mark Gordon is a fan of Blockchain technology and Cardano’s move to Wyoming is a huge win for him. Just this week, Wyoming passed a bill that allows banks to keep books on the blockchain. Also, Bitrefill hopes to simplify lightning network with its new service called Thor. Users can buy channel openings and download a compatible wallet to get started with Lightning payments. Bitrefill takes care of running the node and keeping it live.

1) On Thursday the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) released a new set of regulations aimed at monitoring China-based blockchain service providers. The “Regulation for Managing Blockchain Information Services” framework defines service providers as “entities or nodes” that provide information services to the public by using blockchain technology. The rules officially go into effect on February 15 and will require blockchain service providers to register with the CAC within 10 business days of when they begin offering services to the public. The CAC also requires all companies to register their names, service type, the sector of operation and server address. Any startups failing to comply with the new rules will be issued a warning and further violations will result in a fine ranging from $737 to $4,422. (Read More)

2) Darren Soto, a US congressman from the 9th District of Florida, recently stated that he believes cryptos should be overseen by the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rather than by the heavy-handed Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). According to Soto, applying securities laws to cryptos “can be very intense and hurt the market unless it is truly a security.” He further advocated for “saving the SEC for true securities,” and emphasized that the CFTC and FTC’s lighter touch are more appropriate for the majority of cryptocurrency transactions. (Read More)

3) Dash is one of the largest cryptocurrency platforms but its size does not completely shield it from being the target of a 51% attack. In fact, NiceHash, a Slovenia-based cloud mining platform, currently maintains 1,000 Terahashes TH/s across its network of more than 25,000 miners. A detailed analysis conducted by Reddit user /taipalag found that three of the top four Dash addresses are in the control of a single entity. /taipalag wrote, “These three alone gather 53% and more. You can also see this started 6 months ago / around September last year.” /taipalag also suggested that the fourth top address could also possibly belong to the same entity and just separated on the blockchain. /taipalag then provided the addresses belonging to this entity and the redditor concluded that these addresses mined more than 26,665 Dash ($2.126 million). Businesses that rent hashpower could pose a threat to cryptocurrency platforms as a customer could theoretically rent enough hashpower to launch a 51% attack against vulnerable networks. (Read More)

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