International Crypto News Wrapup (Feb 20)
Wadup, Steemians, after much effort I have finally made enough room in my schedule to post daily on Steem. So, I decided I will start with a crypto news wrapup from around the world. In this post and future posts I will focus on the most recent developments in the crypto and blockchain space from a global perspective because I think it's important that we, the Steem blockchain community, keep track of global news in this space.
I will try to cover the most relevant news from around the world instead of focusing on every little detail because that would be an overkill for one post. I will also be starting a podcast soon and will try out DTube as soon as possible. I am getting ready to go full Steem :D
Okay. Let's crypto.
Venezuela
Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro announced on a national broadcast that the country had raised $735 million USD on the first day of the pre-sale of Venezuela's Petro cryptocurrency. He didn't provide any details on who actually invested but made several references to the United States. He compared the US to Superman and claimed that Petro can take on this Superman.
Personally, I am not a fan of the idea of national cryptocurrencies. One of the core features of a cryptocurrency is that it is decentralized and censorship-resistant. National cryptocurrencies obviously would lack these features as they will be controlled by governments and/or central banks. But one very important aspect of a national crypto like Petro will be that it will make international transactions a breeze. Venezueleans will suddenly have a lot more access to international markets than ever before.
Even though I don't like this centralized currency idea I do think this instant international access that isn't controlled by other powerful governments will help at least some Venezueleans. I don't really have a strong opinion on this right now. Petro is the first experiment of a country launching its own cryptocurrency. I guess we will find out in a few months whether Petro serves as an engine of economic properity for Venezuela or whether this ends up being a giant government backed scam.
South Korea
After months of crackdowns and news of bans and threats South Korea seems to be easing up a little on crypto trading. The country had banned anonymous trading on Jan 30th this year. But a recent statement from South Korean regulator seems to suggest that the country maybe moving towards normalizing crypto trading.
"The whole world is now framing the outline (for cryptocurrencies) and therefore (the government) should rather work more on normalization than increasing regulation." - Choe Heung-sik, chief of Finance Supervisory Service (FSS).
South Korea is a major crypto market so if the country slowly but surely becomes crypto friendly that will be good news for the global crypto community as well. Though we will still have to wait and see the exact regulations they put in place for crypto trading.
Israel
Israel's main tax body, the Israeli Tax Authority (ITA), has confirmed that cryptocurrencies will be taxed as property and not as currencies. If that sounds weird to you as well then that makes two of us :D
While the ITA and several other similar government bodies around the world are making laws around crypto it seems some of them are either missing the point of cryptocurrencies or deliberately taking certain positions to prevent the proliferation of crypto.
To me it makes no sense how something that can be used for both storing value and as means of exchange be strictly classified as "property" under law. I could be wrong but I think this move is meant to try and discourage people of Israel from activily participating in the crypto world. However, if that is the real intent behind such laws then it could also backfire.
Now that cryptocurrencies have some legal status in Israel it is entirely possible that citizens of Israel may start investing heavily in cryptocurrencies and after an amazing 2017 which saw the value of bitcoin skyrocket, I won't blame them for it. Though I certainly don't advise people to invest in cryptocurrencies blindly. Whether you are reading this in Israel or anywhere else please make investment decisions wisely by researching the respective laws and regulations in your country.
Japan
According to several media reports Japan is expected to form a new self-regulating body to deal with cryptocurrency related issues in the country. Several Japanese exchanges are coming together to form this body. This is good news for Japan, which is the country that seems to have taken the most positive attitude towards cryptocurrencies in my view.
Last month Japanese exchange Coincheck suffered the biggest hack in cryptocurrency history when $530 million were stolen from the exchange. I think it's very important for global crypto health that Japan keeps seeing high adoption of crypto because they are setting an example for the world. They are not a poor country with lacking resources yet they are embracing crypto with every passing month. This makes the potential formation of this self-regulating body all the more important in my view.
Thanks for dropping by and reading. I will be covering cryptocurrencies from a slightly more technical perspective in my upcoming videos.
Image source: My crypto news Twitter account CryptoDekko
Check out my previous posts:
- Modern Slavery and the Steem Blockchain Engine of Economic Prosperity
- My Second Life: Digital Currencies, Bitcoin, and Gaming
- Wadup, Steemians, I am here as the prophecy foretold!
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