Philippines Issues Crypto Regulations, And IOST Elections In Full Swing With 800 Million Votes

The State of The Market — February 4, 2019BTC: $3,452.79 (-0.74%)XRP: $0.301477 (-1.32%)ETH: $107.67 (-0.49%)

The overall market was in slight downwards trajectory over the weekend, with nearly $700 Million lost in the last 24 hours. The total market cap went from $114.8 Billion to $113.6 Billion in the weekend. However, the crypto market is giving mixed signals and it is not following Bitcoin right now. Also, BitTorrent’s newly launched BTT token has been surging lately and is up by more than 50% from its original sale price.

In other news, Zebpay crypto exchange unveiled that it is opening new offices in five European countries to increase its presence to 43 countries on the continent. The company currently operates out of Malta, and the expansion will avail it for users in Slovakia, Spain, Romania, Lithuania, and Liechtenstein. Also Euro Exim Bank, the first bank to officially adopt Ripple’s XRP-powered xRapid, recently announced that it has successfully implemented the technology. According to Graham Bright, the head of compliance and operations, “Euro Exim Bank is now working closely with technical resources at Ripple, and has successfully implemented the xRapid system for customers requiring low-value remittances in currencies and jurisdictions typically subject to large exchange costs, costly liquidity and delivery time and acceptance issues.”

1) Earlier today, the Philippines unveiled a new set of rules that would govern cryptocurrencies to protect and regulate investors effectively. The Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) approved the Digital Asset Token offering (DATO) regulations, which covers the buying of utility and security tokens. According to the announcement, CEZA would be the primary regulatory authority in this new framework, and the Asia Blockchain and Crypto Association (ABACA) would be an SRO that helps enact and enforce the new rules. According to CEZA administrator Raul Lambino, the entity seeks to provide a clear set of guidelines to encourage innovation while ensuring proper compliance within the crypto ecosystem. (Read More)

2) IOST’s ongoing election is in full swing. It is set to make its big move by launching its mainnet on February 25. To give the community a sense of ownership and participation, IOST has taken the approach of democratizing the nodes. There is zero technical barrier to entry. Candidates must attract at least 2.1 million votes, and so far 55 nodes have been elected. A total of 800 million votes have been cast in this process. Pittsburgh-based Sutler Ventures recently made it through and is currently ranked at the 8th position with 33.2 million votes. IOST Co-Founder Jimmy Zhong has set a goal of 100 Million users to use IOST’s network, and he is confident of achieving it with their upcoming products. (Read More)

3) The recent drama around QuadrigaCX showcases the poor practices followed by cryptocurrency exchanges. QuadrigaCX is Canada’s largest exchange and its CEO Gerry Cotton controlled all the private keys. Last month, Cotton sadly passed away and along with him, the exchange has lost access to $190 million user funds. The crypto market is clearly not happy with the poor management of funds. CoinShares executive Meltem Demirors called the situation beyond horrifying and Binance CEO CZ tweeted that exchanges should never neglect security. The funds are likely gone forever, and the future of QuadrigaCX is uncertain. (Read More)

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