Saudi Arabia To Launch Its Own Crypto Next Year, And Circle’s Auditor Attests USDC Is Fully Backed

The State of The Market — November 22, 2018BTC: $4,502.02 (-2.06%)XRP: $0.437498 (-1.55%)ETH: $132.47 (-3.10%)

After rebounding from a new low yesterday, the crypto market is in red today. However, the loss is very minimal. In fact, the top 20 cryptocurrencies are down by less than 5%, except for Bitcoin Cash which is down by nearly 8%. Bitcoin Cash ABC made a controversial decision to abandon Proof of Work by enabling checkpoint for every 10 blocks. This move has not gone well with both traders and the community. Bitcoin now has a major resistance at $4,600, which would give it significant momentum if it clears within the next 48 hours.

In other news, the University of Tokyo has raised $800,000 in donations to launch a blockchain course. Donors include Japanese banking giant Sumitomo Mitsui (SMBC) and the Ethereum Foundation. 42% of the world’s top 50 universities now offer at least one crypto-related class. Also, Spain’s tax collection department has recognized at least 15,000 cryptocurrency related businesses that have to pay taxes on their capital gains. Spain’s treasury department asked blockchain-focused firms to report their earnings and crypto assets to the nation’s tax authorities back in April. Spanish businesses are subjected to 19–23% in taxes depending on the size of the profits.

1) Saudi Arabia is reportedly developing its cryptocurrency and will come to market in mid-2019. The new cryptocurrency has already got the backing of a limited number of banks, including the Central Bank of Saudi Arabia. Besides, Ripple, the company developing xRapid and the XRP asset, has begun making inroads in Saudi Arabia. The country’s National Commercial Bank is a member of RippleNet. (Read More)

2) Grant Thornton LLP, the U.S. branch of Grant Thornton International has attested that Circle has fiat funds to back its stablecoin USD Coin (USDC). The attestation, dated November 16, said Circle had $127,412,240.89 as of October 31, which is slightly higher than 127,408,827 USDC tokens in circulation at the time. With USDC’s increasing popularity, it now has 165 million tokens in circulation. The audit also confirmed that Circle and Coinbase jointly issued the stablecoin through the CENTRE Consortium. Other stablecoin issuers like Gemini and Paxos have also published similar attestations from auditing firms to support their holdings. (Read More)

3) The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has published its expectations for listed companies that are looking to raise funds through ICOs. SGX has made it clear that it is not interested in passing judgments on ICOs. Instead, it wants companies to work with it. Companies looking to launch an ICO must provide legal and auditor opinions on the nature of the digital asset in question and its accounting treatment. ICO issuers would have to declare further information if needed. The tokens will be classified as “securities/capital markets products” under Singapore’s Securities and Futures Act (SFA). (Read More)

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