A branch of the Russian federal government has recently published a draft of new litigation called “On Digital Financial Assets,” which is focused on enforcing strict cryptocurrency laws in the country. The legislation has not been approved yet and has been in discussion since 2018. The new laws define Bitcoin as property but not legal tender, and propose, among many other things, that Bitcoin (BTC) miners register as individual companies so they can be appropriately taxed. President Putin is planning on developing and revealing a new tax for Bitcoin miners by July 1, but many are skeptical about the government’s …
Crypto funds associated with Upbit’s $50 million hack in November 2019 have continued to move. Soon after hitting the world’s biggest crypto exchange, Binance, large sums of the stolen funds continued to be transferred to a little-known crypto exchange as well as major exchanges like OKEx. On May 14, Whale Alert — a service dedicated to tracking major crypto transactions — reported on a series of new transactions involving funds from Upbit’s 2019 hack. According to Whale Alert, a large portion of the stolen Ether (ETH) has also hit a number of unknown wallets. Addresses of little-known exchange Byex.com receive …
Major financial services corporation China UnionPay, an analog to card providers like Visa and Mastercard, has partnered with the South Korean payment provider Danal to launch a cryptocurrency-supporting digital card. Danal’s crypto wallet Paycoin and its crypto token of the same name will be the interface for the new, prepaid mobile card. Paycoin has indicated that users will be able to use both the card and Paycoin to pay for goods and services at over 30 million UnionPay merchants across 179 countries and regions. Danal’s PayCoin is a blockchain-based asset that has been in circulation since 2019. It has a …
Two major cryptocurrency exchanges could soon have Walt Disney Corp. as their owner if a $13 billion equity deal goes through, South Korean English-language daily news outlet The Korea Herald reported on April 17. Citing a banking industry source speaking to another publication, JoongAng Ilbo, The Korea Herald revealed the chairman of online gaming giant NXC Corporation, Jung-ju Kim, plans to sell his 98.6% stake in the company. NXC owns 47% of Nexon, South Korea’s largest game developer, which in turn has stakes in South Korean exchange Korbit and European platform Bitstamp through a Belgian subsidiary. According to the source, …
The South Korean government is drafting major new industry classification standards for the domestic blockchain industry, local crypto news outlet The BChain reports Thursday, July 5. Three Korean ministries - the National Statistical Office, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Information and Communication - are said to have been working since the end of last month to produce the final draft of a new blockchain industry classificatory scheme by the end of July. The scheme will reportedly serve as a basis for policy making, notably aimed towards “blockchain promotion and regulatory frameworks,” and covers areas including …