New Guidelines Of SEC Shows It Is Learning How To Deal With ICOs

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) new guidelines on Initial Coins Offerings (ICOs) is a clear indication that the SEC is slowly but surely changing its tone on cryptocurrencies.

The guidelines have been available since March last year which SEC has been promoting on social media since February the same year through the end of November.

It calls on the public to learn more about ICOs that would help them to make an informed and diligent decision when investing on projects that uses the new alternative financial instrument.

The SEC subdivided the guidelines into 5 sections which include: ICOs can be securities offerings, they may need to be registered, tokens sold in ICOs can be called many things, ICOs may pose substantial risks and investors should ask questions before investing.

It seems that the guideline is a step towards the right direction in terms of acknowledging the new financial mechanism as a legitimate area of investment, a far cry from its seemingly adverse attitude towards the nascent industry two years ago.

Pundits have argued that the guidelines has taken a more balance approach with the SEC not saying that ICOs are poor investment but reminds investors to be cautious when going into such a new financial space.

Bitcoin’s Lightning Network Now Has The Capacity Of $3 Million

It seems that the second layer scaling solution, Lightning Network (LN) is experiencing an accelerated pace of growth in the last few months as it has now surpassed the $3million mark.

LN was launched about a little over a year ago reaching a network capacity of $100,000 several months after its initial release.

As it stands it now has a capacity of 773.7 BTC with 7,185 nodes and 34,180 open payment channels with an average capacity of $92 per channel (each node has around 18 channels).

The explosive growth only means that the cryptocurrency community is betting on it and proponents of the second layer scaling solution are pushing hard for its further adoption.

Part of the success of the Lightning Network is the attention it has been getting from main stream social media especially on twitter with no other than the CEO of twitter, Jack Dorsey himself, is spreading awareness about the initiative.

To demonstrate the solidarity within the community in supporting the second layer solution the community has started a LN-based trust game that involves users sending each other a torch worth a continuously growing amount of satoshis.

Samsung Pay To Integrate Cryptocurrencies On Its Platform

It has been reported that Samsung Pay may have been the reason behind the Samsung S10 cryptocurrency integration.

Samsung Pay is a widely utilized digital payments application with over 10 million active users which has been reported to consider supporting cryptocurrencies as a way to expand its user base internationally.

Many analysts in South Korea are betting that Samsung Pay will take the lead in the cryptocurrency sector given the well-documented and successful strategy of Samsung to pursue aggressive acquisition, product launches and integration of newly emerging technologies.

While the cryptocurrency community will benefit from the additional exposure Samsung will be able to bring in the table Samsung, the industry giant could benefit from cryptocurrency integration and appeal to millennial and digital asset users.

This could be a win-win situation for the crypto community at large and Samsung as it tries to expand its presence the fintech sector via its Samsung Pay application.

Colorado Governor Signs Crypto-Friendly Bill Into Law

The Governor of Colorado has recently signed a cryptocurrency-friendly bill that would allow digital tokens from state securities laws.

The new law will only apply to crypto tokens which have consumptive purpose.

The new law is called Colorado’s Digital Token Act which will take into effect on August 2, 2019 with the primary aim of cementing the states position as a hub for companies and entrepreneurs who wants to leverage the power of the emerging technology of distributed ledger technology.

The bill also includes provisions to address uncertainties companies face when buying, selling, and issuing their own cryptocurrencies.

With the new law the tokens issued through a crowd funding campaign like ICOs will be exempt from securities regulations so long as the primary purpose of the tokens are of consumptive purpose and not market the digital token to be used for speculative or investment purpose.

Major Online Bank In Switzerland Integrates Bitcoin Custody Solution

A Major Swiss online bank has been reported to be launching its crypto custody solutions for retail and institutional customers.

Swissquote is a $618 million online banking group which has partnered with a Zug-based Crypto Storage to provide its customers crypto custodial services on its platform.

This is a major breakthrough for cryptocurrency services providers as custody is one of the primary concerns in the space.

As it stands crypto exchanges doubles as crypto custodians which may raise not only regulatory concerns but puts assets at risk.

This has been a major concern for investors especially institutional investors that has been reluctant to delve into cryptocurrencies because of this gap.

Crypto Storage is a fintech company that offers proprietary infrastructure solution to manage private keys both physical and digital that has been reported to have the highest grade hardware security comparable to that being used by the Swiss National Bank.

Headlines for the world of Cryptocurrencies - March 08, 2019 Argentina To Partner with Binance For Blockchain Projects / South Korea Creates Task Force To Go After Crypto-Related Crimes / Consumers and Investors Still Bullish On Crypto / Beverage Company Selling Its Business To Become A Full Time Blockchain Company / Crpto Users In Russia May Need Special ID In The Future
Headlines for the world of Cryptocurrencies - March 07, 2019 Bittorrent To Incentivize 1 Billion Users / Big Four Auditing Firm Reveals 41% Of Tech Companies Like To Implement Blockchain Tech By 2021 / World Is Not Ready Yet For Cryptocurrencies According To Kaspersky CEO / Coinbase Acquires Neutrino For $13.5M / Starbucks To Accept Bitcoin Payments
Headlines for the world of Cryptocurrencies - March 06, 2019 Litecoin Price Keeps On Surging Amidst Whale Accumulation / Starbucks’ Bitcoin Strategy / Malta Digital Exchange Relocating / Merchants In This Australian City Loves Bitcoin Cash / Opera Launching A New Web 3.0 Browser To iOS