The cryptocurrency market continues to remain range-bound with a slight bearish bias. Bitcoin (BTC) once again failed to cross $3,500 this week. The crypto has now fallen to $3,400 levels. The weakness seen in Bitcoin is also reflected by other major altcoins such as Ripple (XRP-$0.29), Ethereum (ETH-$105.07), EOS (EOS-$2.36), Litecoin (LTC-$33.18), TRON (TRON-$0.03), and Cardano (ADA-$0.04), which have declined between 0.1% and 0.50%.
Public sector initiatives
Philippines creates a new regulatory framework for DATO
The Asia Blockchain and Crypto Association (ABACA) has announced that the Philippines government has implemented new guidelines overseeing Digital Asset Token Offering (DATO).
The latest regulations published by the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) are supposedly designed to administrate the cryptocurrency industry while protecting investors. The guidelines oversee issues such as the purchase of crypto assets including security and utility tokens. The CEZE is the primary regulator, while the ABACA is issued the status of a self-regulatory organization (SRO) to implement the new regulations.
According to the media release, all DATOs should be backed by relevant details regarding the project and its issuer, along with certification by experts and their valuable suggestions. Furthermore, tokens should be compulsorily listed on the authorized Offshore Virtual Currency Exchange (OVCE).
The rules are segregated into several levels depending on the amount invested in digital tokens. Tier one rules govern investments and assets valued at $5 million or less. Tier two oversees investments in the $6 million to $10 million range. Tier three caters to investments exceeding $10 million.
Russia implements Blockchain tech in university exams
Russian news agency TASS has stated that the Russian Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Education and Science, (Rosobrnadzor) is deploying blockchain to manage the principal graduation examination.
Beginning this year, Rosobrnadzor intends to implement blockchain technology in the United State Examination (USE), which is the only type of graduation exams in schools and the sole form of preliminary evaluations at universities in Russia.
Sergey Kravtsov, head of the Federal Service, made the announcement. He said: “We also talked about the use of blockchain technology in the USE, and this year this technology will be used in the USE, using new technologies of printing and scanning [of the exam].”
Notably, last week, the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia launched a blockchain technology-based platform designed to track natural diamonds.
Private sector initiatives
Deloitte completes their trial program to digitize the supply chain
Deloitte, one of the Big Four audit and consulting firms, has successfully finished a joint trial program that digitizes the supply chain in several blockchain networks. In this regard, Deloitte has partnered with Kerry Logistics, a Hong Kong stock exchange listed blockchain firm, and CargoSmart, a Hong Kong-based supply chain management firm.
The Proof-of-Concept (PoC), finished at the end of 2018, is supposedly compatible across various blockchains and cloud networks widely used in global trade and finance. The platform is structured to increase the efficiency of the worldwide shipping industry by bringing together data on multiple distributed ledger technology (DLT) chains, thereby improving the transparency of digitized document exchange.
Paul Sin, Deloitte Asia Pacific Blockchain Lab Leader, said the company is looking forward to more cross-industry cooperation of a similar kind in the forthcoming years.
BHP completes test in supply chain blockchain
Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP has successfully tested a supply chain blockchain in partnership with Japanese shipping company NYK.
GoodFuels, a sustainable biofuel firm, volunteered to offer its product for the trial. Likewise, BLOC, a maritime-related blockchain application developer, developed the decentralized framework to track the fuel.
As planned, GoodFuels delivered biofuel to the BHP-chartered, NYK-owned bulk cargo carrier named ‘Frontier Sky.’ The blockchain fuels assurance platform was used to verify the carbon dioxide (CO2) savings.
Maritime magazine Dry Bulk has explained that the sustainable biofuel used in the trial acts as a substitute to conventional fossil-based marine gas oil, leading to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions comparable to that released by a car driven over 125,000 miles.
The delivery made through a partnership is a crucial step for BHP and NYK in their efforts towards global decarbonization. In this case, blockchain technology could assist the industry to authenticate supply chains, ensuring that only genuinely sustainable fuel is used during the process of shipment and that the origin, emission reductions, and benchmarks of fuel quality are entirely transparent and simple to track down.
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