The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) has formed a working group to recommend a potential regulatory response to blockchain applications within the capital markets ecosystem. The news comes from a June 25 notice summarizing IIROC’s aims for the 2019 fiscal year. Canada’s IIROC is a non-profit self-regulatory body that aims to serve the public interest by proposing measures […]

Given the apparent sensitivity of cryptocurrency markets to regulatory and political developments, it stands to reason that the world’s leaders —  and what they think about crypto — will be vitally important in determining the direction the cryptocurrency market will travel in the future. Many leaders have been willing to sit back over the past few months […]

Facebook has announced that it is revising its blanket ban on all cryptocurrency advertisements on the social media site. The announcement highlights that this is a revision of Facebook’s cryptocurrency policy, rather than a removal of the policy altogether. For example, advertising for binary options and ICOs are still banned. About the ban policy, Facebook Bussiness writes: […]

Critics of the Bitcoin community’s decision to pursue a development path that prioritizes the coin’s utility as a store of value often allege that a payments-first focus is necessary to create a “base level of demand” for a cryptocurrency. However, writing on Twitter, BitGo co-founder Ben Davenport makes the case that the payments use case […]

ZCash, a privacy-based cryptocurrency, is about to undergo its first hard fork. The network upgrade, dubbed Overwinter, is intended to be activated at block 347,500 – it’s currently at 347, 253- and is scheduled to go live on June 26. ZCash is a fork of bitcoin which uses a cryptography principle called “zero-knowledge proofs” which allows users to […]

The Bahamas has joined a small list of countries that are planning to experiment with central bank digital currencies (CBCD). The country’s Deputy Prime Minister who also doubles up as Minister of Finance, K. Peter Turnquest, announced during the recently held ‘The Bahamas Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference’ that a pilot digital currency will be introduced by the Central Bank […]

With a plethora of business blockchains vying for prominence, banks are under increasing pressure to pick a winner – after all, without network effects, surely the benefits would be lost? While that might be conventional wisdom, Commerzbank AG, one of Germany’s largest financial institutions, is taking a different tack. Rather than choose one protocol on […]

Cryptonation. Blockchain Cruise. CryptoCribs. These are just several of the names of tourism programs focused on the blockchain industry, from luxury cruises to Middle East startup tours, that are part of a growing trend targeting crypto-curious travelers. The Blockchain Cruises, organized by the tourism arm of Edinburgh, Scotland-based crypto wallet provider CoinsBank, have garnered a […]

Authorities in Cambodia have formally warned domestic investors that they risk incurring penalties for buying, selling, or trading cryptocurrencies without getting a license first. “Any person or legal entity that propagates to mobilize funds, buys, sells, trades or settles Crypto Currencies without obtaining license from competent authorities shall be penalized in accordance with applicable laws,” […]

Laura Desmond Blockchain is now an official word in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Of course, the FinTech industry doesn’t have to look it up, but the dictionary now defines blockchain as a technology that enables the keeping of records of financial transactions in a digital database as part of a publicly accessible network. The addition of blockchain to […]