Category: Crypto Trends

Make sense of the news and how it affects the blockchain space as a whole. Crypto trends is a collection of relevant news and insights to help you make an informed decision.

  • China ICO ban is temporary, will introduce licensing soon hints Chinese Official

    China ICO ban is temporary, will introduce licensing soon hints Chinese Official

    The FUD over the China ICO ban seems to be over. After causing a global panic on Monday with the announcement of an ICO ban, a Chinese official has clarified the position saying that China will look to resume ICOs in the future after establishing licensing regulations. This was done via an interview on CCTV-13, a state run national television channel in China. When asked about whether the ban could stop innovation in the Blockchain Space, the official responded that this was not the intention of the ban and it was meant to protect investors. The explicitly said this was a “Stop” and not a “Forbidden” . The interview proceeded to mention Fintech and the benefits of it. One important take home is that talk about “regtech” – regulation technology, something that might be implemented in the future to allow ICOs that really need the money to be controlled and licensed.

    Check a video recording of the CCTV-13 interview:

    http://finance.chinanews.com/shipin/2017/09-06/news730639.shtml

    China ICO ban Timeline (Source Measurable Data Token)

    Who was interviewed and it matters?

    The interviewee, Hu Bing is from 中国社会科学院金融研究所 ( Institute of Finance and Banking, an academic research organization that’s only loosely affiliated with the State). This is important because he is not a major government official and the choice of the speaker is very strategic. Depending on how you interpret it, the speaker could represent the current line of thought for the government but also allow room to change their opinion if things go awry.

    Discussion on Boxmining 

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTcvO0bKCxY

  • What’s happening to Chinese Exchanges?

    What’s happening to Chinese Exchanges?

    After the announcement from the People’s Bank of China declaring ICOs to be illegal, there has been some uncertainty over the future of exchanges in China. There has been some confusion with regards to what will happen to ICO tokens and coins. (texasautotrim.com) There is also confusion as the what are the exact rules trading. This is a list of how exchanges are currently handling the situation:

    YunBi

    • Resumed Trading
    • Delisted QTUM, GXS, EOS, ANS, DGD, 1ST, GNT, REP, SNT, OMG, PAY, LUN, VEN
    • Resuming BTC, ETH, ZEC, SC, BCC, ETC, BTS.
    • Froze Trade APIs

    Binance

    JuBi

     

  • Hong Kong warns ICOs maybe possibly be classified as Securities

    Hong Kong warns ICOs maybe possibly be classified as Securities

    Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures commission has issued a new statement regarding ICOs and it’s classification in Hong Kong. The stated that depending on circumstances, some ICOs may be regarded as securities and could fall under securities regulation.

    Where the digital tokens involved in an ICO fall under the definition of “securities”, dealing in or advising on such digital tokens, or managing or marketing a fund investing in them, may constitute a regulated activity. Parties engaging in a regulated activity targeting the Hong Kong public are required to be licensed by or registered with the SFC, irrespective of where they are located.

    The take home here is that if a Hong Kong hosted ICO has securities like attributes it may be classified as a security and must be licensed by the SFC.

    One country two systems

    Hong Kong is part of China but has a different legal system under the “one country two systems policy”. This means Hong Kong has its own legislative council and will enforce laws differently from Mainland China. Currently, this policy is geared more toward regulation rather than outlawing ICOs like what is happening in Mainland China.

  • ICOinfo refunds 4 ICOs in less than 7 hours

    ICOinfo refunds 4 ICOs in less than 7 hours

    After the recent announcement from the Peoples Bank of China (PBoC) Banning ICOs, ICOINFO has swiftly refunding 4 ICOs that were previously listed on their website. A notice came up on their website at 10pm on September 4th, merely 7 hours after the announcement from the PBoC, stating that LLToken, UIP, CCC and HMS have been successfully refunded to contributor’s accounts. The refund strategy for Atmatrix will be decided by the 8th.

    Rapid Refunds

    Users will be able to withdraw their funds by 10:00 on the 5th of September. This news comes quite surprising as this date is less than 24 hours from the government announcement. This means they would have had to contact the project leaders, organized the refund and actually implemented the code to do it within 24 hours. It is evident that this is not only a huge operation (refunding thousands of dollars worth of coins) but also a very urgent one.

    Notice of ICOINFO website, confirming the refunds

    What about LLToken on Binance?

    LLToken’s ICO was held on multiple ICO platforms, including Binance. In fact, the LLToken has already begun trading on Binance on the 30th of August. Since they are different platforms with different owners, the exact course of action for tokens issued on Binance is still unclear. The price of LLToken (LLT) has definitely taken a huge hit.

    LLT/BTC trading on Binance.com

    About ICOINFO

    ICOINFO is a popular ico platform which has completed projects such as PressONE, which had Xiaolai Li as an advisor.

    This article was originally posted on http://109.199.119.140/~boxminin/boxminingmedeveloper.temp927.kinsta.cloud/icoinfo-refunds-icos

  • China officially banned ICOs – People’s Bank of China issues formal notice

    China officially banned ICOs – People’s Bank of China issues formal notice

    China has officially banned all ICO (Initial Coin Offerings) in a recent article by the People’s Bank of China. This didn’t come as a surprise as the government has already leaked some warnings and rumors have been spreading regarding this issue. However, this was the worst possible outcome as some Chinese platforms were still optimistic that there would only be limitations instead of a direct ban. ICO platforms like ICOage and ICOINFO have already suspended operations prior to this announcement. In addition, the notice warned people about the dangers of investing in cryptocurrencies and stated directly that cryptocurrencies are not legal currencies in China. Cryptocurrencies are regarded as commodities in China and cannot be used in place of the government currency, the Ren Min Bi (RMB).

    China (People’s Bank of China) Bans ICOs

    Too Fast too Furious?

    ICOs in China has gained a lot of traction in recent months due to the rising interest in blockchain technology and the potential to make large gains from sold-out ICOs. This has lead to more than 300 ICOs going online in China, a lot of which was hastily put together. Some suspicion also fell on a few ICOs where leaders were accused of insider trading or faking the contribution amount. The government intervention in this field is most likely a response to the possible rise in the number of illegitimate ICOs.

    ICO Refund ?

    Cause 2 of the article asked for “individuals who have completed the financing of the tokens should make arrangements for repatriation and so on“. Currently, platforms such as ICOinfo are contacting project owners of ICOs that have NOT yet distributed tokens for a refund. It is unknown what will happen to projects that have already been sold on the market. Although it would make little sense refund tokens that are worth more than the initial ICO value.

    HMS cancel ICO and refunds

    The Global Health mutual Society Based on Blockchain (which is a real mouthful) has decided to refund the ICO and return coins raised to participants. The following message is left on the website:

    [Note analysis of this event is still ongoing and updates will be added to this post]

  • ICOAge: Chinese ICO platform suspends operations

    ICOAge: Chinese ICO platform suspends operations

    ICOage, a popular chinese ICO platform that hosted projects such as Delphy and Indorse has suspended its operations today. ICOage is backed by famous cryptocurrency investor Li XiaoLai. XiaoLai also has ties to OKex and other cryptocurrency exchanges. All upcoming ICOs has been temporarily suspended, and this following notice was placed on their website:

    ICOage operations suspended

    China’s cryptocurrency Exchange Ban

    The closure of ICOage is seen as part of a wide scale operation to ban cryptocurrency exchanges in china.

    This suspension is voluntary and doesn’t affect the ICOs that have already been completed – the will continue as normal and contributors will be able to collect their tokens. However, upcoming ICOs have all been removed and they are no longer accepting any ICO applications. This is the second ICO platform to suspend its operations, the first being ICOINFO. Currently, it is unknown the duration of this suspension. (yourolddog.com)

  • Chinese ICO Platform, ICO.info temporarily suspends operations

    Chinese ICO Platform, ICO.info temporarily suspends operations

    The ICO platform, ico.info made an announcement today to voluntarily suspend its current operations. A notice on the website stated that new ICOs will not go online, however successful ICOs will receive tokens as planned. ICO has launched more than 10 ICOs in the past few months, including Press.One – a publishing website that will be built on the EOS platform.  Many of the ICOs were so popular on the ico.info platform that users complained they couldn’t get in on any of them.

    This news follows the recent rumors of increased government restrictions and regulations with regards to raising money through crowd sales. There have been rumors of official guidance for token sales along with official government tweets about stopping ICO related events. So far nothing concrete has been issued, however, this has prompted websites like ico.info to preemptively stop its activities and redpulse to stop accepting funds from Chinese Citizens.

     Suspension duration

    The biggest question now is what will happen to the future of ICOs in China. Currently, it’s not known exactly how long this suspension will last. One thing for sure is that they need to clarify this issue with relevant departments and they need to wait for the new policies be drafted. At this current point, deposits will not be credited to the site.

    ICO.info previous successful projects:

  • OmiseGo (OMG) in a nutshell

    OmiseGo (OMG) in a nutshell

    (Updated on 31-08-2017)

    OmiseGO is a token proposed by Omise that allows real time, direct transfers across multiple fiat currencies and digital currencies. Omise go is an existing payment management platform mainly focused on Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Singapore and Japan. With this new project, they plan to take this one step further and integrate their services with blockchain technology.

    What it Offers

    1. Ethereum based financial technology
    2. Ease of use – no bank account needed
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    3. Affordability – low transaction fees
      • Using traditional remittance methods make it difficult for a lot of their target market to send money home. The fees will take up a large percentage of the total amount. OmiseGo can offer almost instant transfers at low cost.
    4. Allows easy transfer between fiat currencies and also digital currencies

    What it Means

    Ultimately, OmiseGo should make it easier for foreign workers to send money home to their families. It also has the additional benefit of extra security through decentralized currencies. Millions of users in fast growing economies will be given the opportunity to go from fiat currencies to digital currencies.

    **Update**

    OmiseGo has announced their collaboration with McDonald’s Thailand. Founder, Jun Hasegawa, confirmed the news on his Twitter. Following the news, OMG has seen a slight rise of over 4% today.

  • Segwit Activation and Bitcoin Future with Jimmy Song

    Segwit Activation and Bitcoin Future with Jimmy Song

    Hi guys! I’m going to interview Jimmy Song (with Ivan on Tech), a vocal Bitcoin Developer and Entrepreneur about Segwit and the future of Bitcoin. Do you guys have any suggestions for interview questions?

    I would like to ask the boxminingmedeveloper.temp927.kinsta.cloudmunity if you have any questions to ask Jimmy (concerns over Bitcoin Scaling etc).

    Video will go live on July 19th Wednesday 8 pm CST
    (view from link below, will also be cast on Ivan’s channel)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7NbMJqUnEQ

    Comments and suggestions:
    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1az8gtlpBRKXUOEyzPIv_kuy9d6AXY04ffm4Y9zX_lLk/edit?usp=sharing

    Objectives:
    Scenarios for Aug 1st
    Dispel some rumors / false information that is spreading in the bitcoin community
    Theme: Will Aug 1st Lead to a Better Bitcoin?

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    Questions

    1. Tell us about yourself How did you get into Bitcoin
    2. Why do we need to fix Bitcoin Scaling? (eg. currently, a large number of transactions create higher fees)
    3. Optimistic Scenario – Locking mechanism etc
    4. Failed Scenario – Betray and chain split
    5. Practical: what do “regular” people absolutely need to know until the August the 1st? For example: is it safe to transact during that time etc.. (pamblancopainting.com)
    6. How do we think we can heal the wounds and get everyone working together again
    7. What misconceptions do you want to dispel – what do you think people get most confused about

    References

    https://medium.com/@jimmysong
    Latest Post: https://medium.com/@jimmysong/uasf-segwit2x-scenarios-and-timelines-1a540336c4be

  • Ethereum Wallet Scams and Phishing

    Ethereum Wallet Scams and Phishing

    It is well known that during a panicked state, high brain function stops and we are more vulnerable to scams. The current market dips definitely have an emotional toll and scammers are exploiting its. Scammers are using our weakened states to trick us into accidentally revealing our ethereum wallets and other logins. The most common form of the scam is the usage of fake websites, known as phishing attacks. These websites are malicious and will attempt to steal the keys to your wallet and take ALL of your hard earned crypto currency. For example:

    This is a screenshot of a scam trying to disguise a fake website as MyEtherWallet. MyEtherWallet.com is safe, but the thieves managed to make an exact clone. The clone looks EXACTLY the same, but with one key difference, if you input your key and password, it will send that to thief and they will gain complete access to your account.

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    Beware of the familiar

    Many of these attempts use familiar sounding names and use exact replicas of websites. This is why people fall for them EVEN though they have been warned or are vigilant. Sometimes we are distracted and accidentally click on it, then go through the mechanical motion of logging in with our private key.

    “PLEASE NOTE: These links do NOT take you to MyEtherWallet. If you hover over the link it will redirect you to: “myetherwallet.ch, .tech, .com.de, etc.” Basically anything other than the official site!”

    Fake emails

    Whilst has been warned many times, it takes one time of dropping our guard before getting caught. Many emails are innocent and disguise themselves as warnings or informational articles.

    Remember to stay vigilant, consider using well stored paper wallets or hardware wallets.