The cryptocurrency market has undergone a minor correction with major altcoins recording a decline in the past 24 hours but showing considerable gains over the past week. Bitcoin (BTC), however, remains strong with gains of 5.8% in the past one week and 0.7% in the past 24 hours. The crypto king has surged past the psychological level of $4,000 to trade at $4,178 at the time of writing this article. Interestingly, Ethereum (ETH) has gained 5.8% in the past week but has lost 0.6% in the past 24 hours to trade at $141.91. Likewise, Ripple (XRP) has gained 3.3% in the past week but has lost 0.8% in the past 24 hours to trade at $0.3137. Other altcoins are trading with considerable weekly gains as well. This includes EOS (EOS-$4.21, 15.2%), Litecoin (LTC-$60.68, 2.6%), Cardano (ADA-$0.071, 22.4%), Stellar (XLM-$0.1108, 8%), TRON (TRX-$0.02571, 9.6%) and IOTA (MIOTA-$0.3271, 8.9%).
Government level initiatives
Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission publishes guidelines for STOs
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong has issued official guidelines for security token offerings (STOs). The rules intend to clear the doubts related to the legal and regulatory obligations of parties involved in STO-related activities.
The document initially defines a security token and its sale, saying: “STOs typically refer to specific offerings which are structured to have features of traditional securities offerings, and involve Security Tokens which are digital representations of ownership of assets (e.g., gold or real estate) or economic rights (e.g., a share of profits or revenue) utilizing blockchain technology.”
SFC has stated that security tokens will be likely considered as securities and supervised under Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Ordinance which implies that security tokens will be governed under the prevailing securities laws. Therefore, a Hong Kong-based STO or STO’s targeting investors in Hong Kong, must obtain a license and enroll as a securities dealer in accordance with the rules laid down by the ordinance.
The SFC also cautions that dealing in securities, which comes under “Type 1 regulated activity” without a proper license is a punishable crime. Therefore, third-party entities that intend to operate or promote STO must oblige with the current code of conduct.
Finally, the SFC points out that an STO operator must follow the guidelines issued in the November 2018 circular for cryptocurrency exchanges.
Canadian town trials program permitting residents to pay property taxes with Bitcoin
Innisfil, a town in Ontario, Canada, is presently trialing a program that permits its residents to remit property taxes using cryptocurrencies. The plan was approved by the Innisfil Council last week. Innisfil, in collaboration with Coinberry Pay, a cryptocurrency payment processing venture, will permit its residents to settle property taxes in Bitcoin (BTC). CoinberryPay has been designed to exchange cryptos for Canadian dollars and transfer payments.
In the future, the program may support other cryptos such as Litecoin (LTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Ripple (XRP).
Lynn Dollin, Innisfil’s Mayor, said the trials of the new payment system indicated that the community gives importance to innovation. In 2017, the town with a population of 36,000 introduced a ride-sharing program, named Innisfil Transit, in partnership with Uber and supported it with tax concessions.
Private sector initiatives
Crypto payment method to refill Suica payment card with cryptocurrency
While giving a business presentation in Tokyo, Kazuhiro Tokita, Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DeCurret’s board member, representative director, and President introduced a unique cryptocurrency payment mechanism that permits the refilling of Suica payment card, a prepaid e-money card, with cryptocurrency.
The card is sold by Japan’s numero uno railway firm, East Japan Railway Company (JR East). Notably, no definite timeline has been provided for the introduction of the card. In 2018, JR East issued over 70 million Suica cards.
The prepaid card allows not only transport payments but also the purchase of goods and services. Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) gave the green light for Decurret’s operation on March 28th.
CSICL investigates how blockchain can assist in funding upstream suppliers
China Shipbuilding Industry Company Limited (CSICL) is planning to study how blockchain can be beneficial in funding its upstream suppliers. CSICL is a subsidiary of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), which is one of the two largest shipping giants in the country.
CSICL has entered into a strategic deal on logistics (supply chain) related services with Shanghai Bank. According to the agreement, CSICL and Shanghai Bank will jointly build a blockchain technology-based online supply chain funding facility for CSIC’s upstream suppliers.
The platform is expected to serve the financing needs of supply chains in ten key industries namely storage batteries, tobacco machinery, turbochargers, diesel engines, shipbuilding, large steel structure fabrications, marine engineering, gas meters, port machinery, and automation distribution systems.
The latest agreement is part of Shanghai Bank’s plan to enhance business processes using path-breaking innovations. Last October, Shanghai Bank unveiled Uplink e-Chain — an online platform facilitating supply chain funding for small and medium enterprises.
Disclaimer: Any financial trading analysis offered here is our opinion and is not intended as advice or direction for investors. We cannot guarantee the success of any trades made as a consequence of this article, and we encourage traders to incorporate a strong money management strategy to limit losses when they enter the markets. Please use this article as part of your own research before formulating strategies prior to trading.
