China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), has today, September 18, issued a new public notice “reminding” investors of the risks associated with Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and crypto trading. The notice, released from the bank’s headquarters in Shanghai, reiterates the severe line that has been adopted by the country’s Office for Special Remediation of Internet Financial Risks, which first introduced a blanket ban on ICOs in September 2017. Today’s notice censures the “unauthorized” and “illegal” ICO financing model for posing a “serious disruption” to the “economic, financial and social order”: “[ICOs are] suspected of illegally selling tokens, …

Coming every Sunday, the Hodler’s Digest will help you to track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions, and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link. Top Stories This Week New York Judges Rules Securities Laws Be “Flexible” And Apply To Cryptocurrencies In an apparent first, a New York federal judge has ruled that U.S. securities laws are applicable for prosecuting crypto fraud allegations. During the fraud case against Brooklyn resident Maksim Zaslavskiy — who allegedly defrauded investors by promoting two cryptocurrencies reportedly …

This week, on the same day, two United States regulating bodies — the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and its ruling organization the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) — reported filing objections against non-compliant crypto players who made some false statements regarding their businesses. While the SEC barely needs any introduction for those who follow the crypto industry, FINRA might seem unfamiliar. FINRA is a private, non-federal agency, although it is overseen by the SEC. It regulates one specific part of the securities industry in the U.S.: brokerage firms doing business with the public. What makes the news particularly interesting …

The Swiss-based cryptocurrency project the Tezos Foundation has announced that its mainnet will be launched on Monday, according to a September 14 tweet. Have a great weekend, everyone, because mainnet arrives Monday! — Tezos Foundation (@TezosFoundation) September 14, 2018 On Monday, the beta period of the network will officially be over, as the protocol will become a full mainnet. Tezos introduced its beta network in June, calling the move an “inflection point” for the project. From that point on, users could begin validating blocks or “baking” after the first seven cycles. In order to build a network and issue a …

The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is due to unveil the hotly anticipated draft regulation for cryptocurrencies in the next few days, if the information provided by The Manilla Times is correct. If the regulation reflects the previous enthusiastic efforts to implement cryptocurrency in the Philippines, it stands to play a seminal role in defining the country’s status as a major player in the fintech sector. The SEC chairman, Ephyro Luis Amatong, has previously emphasised the need to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges as traditional trading platforms. The draft comes in the wake of several Philippine lawmakers calling for the creation …

The media sharing and advertising platform Snapparazzi has announced a release of its minimum viable product (MVP) of a blockchain-based platform. The app aims to allow everyone with a smartphone “to become a reporter” or a content creator. The user takes footage or a photo of newsworthy events with their smartphone and shares it using the platform. The interested buyers — TV, newspapers, radio, etc. — pay for the content in fiat currency. The user will in turn be paid in SnapCoin, the platform’s token for their contribution. The platform also targets content creators and says they can get paid …

U.S. stock brokerage firm EF Hutton plans to issue $60 million in various cryptocurrency instruments from January 2019, Bloomberg reported September 13. The latest in a series of crypto-related announcements this month, the company’s parent organization HUTN said it would begin offering “multiple instruments, coins and tokens” which would “generate proceeds of at least $60 million.” The move comes the same week as EF Hutton confirmed it was the major sponsor of a new U.S. cryptocurrency exchange known as ACEx, which also plans to start operating next January along with issuing its own token. “Proceeds will be used to fund …

In the past 10 days, Initial Coin Offering (ICO) projects have sold three times more Ethereum (ETH) than they did in August, according to research by TrustNodes published September 13. The 160,000 Ethereum tokens sold over the past few days amount to $33 million, according to the price index at press time. Per TrustNodes, ICO projects sold 82,000 ETH on September 4, which was followed by a sharp decline in crypto markets. Average daily ETH sales from ICOs varied from 1,000 to 5,000 coins in August, with occasional sales around 10,000 ETH. In contrast, the same amount of 10,000 ETH …

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has approved a draft of regulations governing Initial Coin Offerings (ICO), local media outlet WAM reported Sunday, September 9 citing government sources. The reported move comes in addition to lawmakers in the country adopting plans for a regulatory sandbox aimed at attracting greater fintech activity. “The sandbox will act as an environment that attracts innovators to test innovative products, services, solutions and business models in a controlled space,” a report from the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) published September 4 reads, adding: “This can be achieved by adopting an approach of relaxing and / or …

An official from Russia’s central bank has revealed that the bank has recently conducted a "successful" experimental Initial Coin Offering (ICO), as cited by local news agency TASS Tuesday, September 11. Ivan Semagin, deputy director of the Financial Market Development Department for the Bank of Russia, told TASS: “Within a framework of the central bank’s sandbox, we conducted an experimental ICO on the basis of our existing infrastructure. Technically it was a success, but we still have a lot of legal issues”. TASS writes that Sberbank and the National Settlement Depository were set to test an experimental ICO, issued by …

The European Union (E.U.) will focus on the development of crypto asset classification and regulatory mapping, European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis claimed at a recent meeting of Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Ecofin) in Vienna. According to Dombrovskis, crypto assets are “here to stay,” and the crypto market still “continues to grow” despite “recent turbulence.” The Commissioner claimed that, in order to address major issues around cryptocurrencies, the E.U. will focus on the main challenge that is how to “categorize and classify” crypto assets this year. He also stated that the organization will consider whether existing E.U. financial regulation …

Funding for Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) has seen its hardest slump in 16 months, Bloomberg reported September 10. Analysis from Autonomous Research shows that in August, startups raised $326 million, which is the smallest amount since May 2017. According to Autonomous Research, Ethereum (ETH) blockchain-based ICOs have been recognized as the spark for the ETH price surge in 2017. However, they are currently the purported reason for the currency’s price slide, as some projects cash out to cover expenses amid concerns over a bearish market. The new analysis comes as legislators and regulators globally express concern regarding ICOs. Last week, …