The global nature of digital currencies makes following international news beneficial for investors and interested parties participating in the market. However, due to how fast news travels through the landscape, it can be easy to miss the occasional story now and again. This week, we look at Venezuela's president permitting the sale of Petro at several exchanges, South Korean lawmakers looking to reverse the country’s ICO ban, and more.As part of a regular weekly roundup, Coinsquare News compiled the week’s significant international news headlines.
Venezuela's President, Nicolás Maduro, continued his bid to further the contentious Petro digital currency this week. According to local media, the government-backed digital currency will now be available on 16 exchanges in the country.
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“The certification of these 16 exchanges is a demonstration of confidence in the system of the Petro, as a cryptocurrency, and will allow liquidity and solid transactional volume,” said Maduro. Petro is an extremely controversial digital currency both in Venezuela's parliament and abroad. Previously, the opposition party called the currency unlawful, and the U.S. warned the public against investing in Petro; which could be seen as violating current sanctions.
Previously, South Korea banned raising money through all forms of digital currencies in a move designed to hinder the prevalence of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). In doing so, the country said that digital currency trading needs to be heavily monitored. This week, however, The Korea Times reported that the Democratic Party of Korea is looking to undo South Korea’s sweeping ban on ICOs. Reportedly, the new bill will not legalize all ICOs, but largely reverse the country’s currently-harsh stance in order to permit honest actors and organizations.
According to an article published by Forbes earlier in the week, a digital currency enthusiast will run for mayor of Taipei in 2018. Cheng Yi-ting is the CEO of a local digital currency exchange known as OTCBTC. She has made digital currency regulation a part of her platform, hoping to bolster education and innovation. Currently, regulators in the region are purportedly indifferent to digital currencies as they are yet to enact regulation supporting or detracting from the industry.
According to a report from Forbes, Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) is pressuring the country’s exchanges to avoid listing digital currencies praised for their anonymity. Purportedly, this list of currencies includes Monero, Zcash, and Dash, as well as other digital currencies that the FSA claims are ‘favoured by criminals.’Last week, 16 of Japan’s licensed digital currency exchanges united to begin self-regulatory measures. These exchanges hope to promote the strength of Japan’s digital currency industry amidst uncertainty created due to strict FSA regulation and exchanges like Binance leaving the country.
According to Reuters, an experimental version of Iran’s own state-backed digital currency is ready for testing. The currency is being developed by Postal Bank and local experts. Moving forward, Iran will look to onboard domestic banks for approval and review. The news arrives despite reports last week that the country’s financial institutions are now prohibited from dealing with bitcoin, ethereum, and other digital currencies. In announcing the new restrictions, Iran’s central bank cited potential risks of digital currencies being used for illicit purposes, and criticized their decentralized nature.
UNICEF Australia recently launched “Hope Page," an initiative which looks to raise money for charity through the use of a digital currency mining tool known as Coinhive. By simply visiting the page and consenting to allocate a portion of their computer’s resources to mining, users can support the charity at little-to-no cost. Previously, UNICEF launched a similar initiative known as Game Chaingers, which prompted gamers to temporarily donate their computer’s resources through running a piece of mining software. In total, the initiative raised more than 26,500 euros (over $40,000 CAD).Interested in trading digital currencies? Coinsquare is Canada’s most secure platform for buying and selling Bitcoin, Litecoin, and other digital currencies.
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