Malaysian cryptocurrency regulation comes into effect on Tuesday, Reuters reports on Monday, Jan. 14. The Malaysian finance minister, Lim Guan Eng, reportedly said today that the Capital Markets and Services Order 2019 would become effective on Jan. 15. According to Reuters, the new regulation classifies digital currencies, tokens and crypto-assets as securities, placing them under the Securities Commission’s authority. Starting […]

Google (Alphabet Inc.) has reportedly blacklisted keywords mentioning Ethereum (ETH) on its advertising platform Google Ads, smart contract auditing startup Decenter tweeted on Jan. 10. The official Google Ads account replied to the tweet stating that cryptocurrency exchanges targeting the United States and Japan can be advertised on the platform, and that targeting other countries could be the reason for the ad […]

Japan’s finance regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA), has granted full permission for cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck to continue operating in the country. Cointelegraph Japanreported on the development on Jan. 11, quoting an official communique. Coincheck, which was hacked in January 2018, losing altcoin tokens worth $530 million at the time, now joins the slowly increasing number of officially sanctioned exchanges serving the Japanese market. The […]

China’s internet regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China(CAC) in a detailed document outlined a final draft of regulations concerning cryptocurrency and blockchain companies. The rules will come into effect starting February 19, and provide a set of guidelines that blockchain companies are required to follow. According to the CAC’s director: The Regulations on the Management of […]

Decentralization is a more important phenomenon than blockchain, a senior executive at South Korean tech giant Samsung said in an interview with computing magazine JAX Jan. 10. Speaking about the future of blockchain, Ricardo J. Méndez, Technical Director at the firm’s innovative technology arm Samsung NEXT, forecast a consolidation of the space in the coming year, but underscored the importance of reshaping centralized […]

Several tobacco shops in Paris, France, have started selling Bitcoin (BTC) for fiat despite regulatory uncertainty, Reuters reports Tuesday, Jan. 8. Reuters has learned that the world’s largest cryptocurrency can now be purchased at six tobacco shops throughout Paris. However, in a contradicting report French magazine Capital has claimedthat there are as many as 24 shops currently participating in […]

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has recommended further research into cryptocurrency and will perform “a number of actions” relating to the sector in 2019. The agency has said this in its latest report published Jan. 9. In the document, which focuses on the “applicability and suitability of European Union law to crypto-assets,” the EBA appeared broadly unhurried about developing new regulatory […]

KodakONE — the developer of a blockchain-based image rights platform licensed by photographic industry giant Kodak — has reportedly generated over $1 million in licensing claims for image rights during a limited beta test of its platform. The news was reported by blockchain news source Breaker Mag on Jan. 8. As Cointelegraph previously reported, the KodakONE Image Rights Management […]

United States federal agencies reportedly raided the office of a Michigan-based science and tech center last month during a crypto-related investigation, local news outlet Wood-TV reported Jan. 5. As Wood-TV reported, Chris Boden, the founder of The Geek Group, made a live public statement on YouTube Saturday night, which has evidently since been deleted. Boden reportedly claimed the office of […]

The personal Coinbase merchant account of Andrew Torba, social media platform Gab’s founder, has been terminated, the official Gab.com account tweeted on Jan. 4. As blockchain blog Breaker reported earlier, Gab’s business account on Coinbase was allegedly closed in December. The news source put forward that a possible reason why it is hard for Gab to obtain a payment processor is […]