14 South Korean crypto exchanges set up self-regulatory rules

In a bid to address the issues relating to money laundering, insider trading, and other illicit activities, South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges have announced self-made rules, The Korea Times reported. The 14 crypto exchanges, who are also the members of the Korea Blockchain Association (KBA), announced the new rules at a press conference in Seoul on Tuesday. These include Bithumb, Upbit, and OKCoin among others.

New York Attorney General launches inquiry into 13 crypto exchanges

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Tuesday announced the launch of an inquiry into cryptocurrency exchanges. The Virtual Markets Integrity Initiative will look into the policies and practices of digital currency exchanges. The Attorney General’s office has already sent letters to thirteen major cryptocurrency trading platforms requesting key information on their operations, internal controls, and safeguards to protect customer assets.

Indian bitcoin exchange Coinsecure to refund lost funds to customers

Indian bitcoin exchange Coinsecure has announced its plans to repay the users who lost their funds in the recent theft on its platform. Last week, Coinsecure announced that 438.318 bitcoins (approximately $3.3 million) were stolen from its bitcoin wallet. The company has implicated its CSO Dr. Amitabh Saxena in its complaint with the police authorities.

Central bank digital currencies could significantly impact existing banking system: BoJ Deputy Governor

Central bank digital currencies could significantly impact the current structure of the banking system, a Bank of Japan official recently. In his closing Remarks at the IMF-JFSA-BOJ Conference on FinTech, Masayoshi Amamiya, Deputy Governor of the BoJ, explained how central bank digital currencies could impact the existing two-tiered currency system and private banks' financial intermediation.

Many ICOs are dubious, if not downright frauds: Hong Kong SFC

Hong Kong securities regulator recently said that it is coupling its enforcement action against initial coin offerings (ICOs) with investor education. While acknowledging blockchain potential in a recent speech, Julia Leung, deputy head of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) said that it does not entitle anyone to conduct fundraising from the public in violation of securities law.

Investments/Acquisitions/ Fund-raising:

Belgium backs World Food Programme’s blockchain project with €2M funding

Harbor attracts $28M in new funding to re-engineer private securities with blockchain

Crypto exchange Coinbase acquires Earn.com, Cipher Browser

Yahoo Japan subsidiary acquires minority stake in cryptocurrency exchange

Partnerships/Consortiums:

Holt Logistics joins blockchain initiative led by Maersk and IBM

L&T Infotech latest to join Enterprise Ethereum Alliance

R3 blockchain consortium welcomes Japanese banking giant SBI’s subsidiary

Blockchain and Digital Currency Initiatives

JPMorgan and others trial blockchain for issuing financial instruments

Dubai’s DTCM launches blockchain-based Tourism 2.0 marketplace

Banking consortium executes pilot transactions on blockchain trade finance platform

Chinese telecom titan Huawei launches Blockchain Service platform

Dow Jones Media Group, Brave software partner to bring blockchain to media and advertising

South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb to issue own token

India-based ICICI Bank on-boards over 250 corporates on blockchain trade finance platform

Marsh, IBM collaborate on commercial blockchain solution for proof of insurance

14 Indian life insurers develop blockchain solution for cross-company data sharing

Emirates NBD rolls out blockchain solution ‘Cheque Chain’ at scale

Kaspersky Lab announces blockchain-based voting solution ‘Polys’

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