#blockchainregulation

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👉 Full article: https://cointelegraph.com/news/south-korea-jeju-city-targets-crypto-holdings-alleged-tax-dodgers

On April 3, the European Union published on its official website that it had launched the INATBA (International Association of Trusted Blockchain Applications). According to our representative who graced the ceremony which was held in Brussels, at the EC (European Commission), the members who signed the charter were in excess of 100. Some of the members who signed the charter included Deutsche Telekom, IBM, and Accenture. Some of the blockchain-related members include IOTA, the Sovrin Foundation, ConsenSys, and Ripple. According to the European Union announcement, the aim of the INATBA is to bring together different industry SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises), startups, standard-setting bodies, and regulators. That is done for the purpose of bringing distributed ledger technology (DLT) and the blockchain technology into the mainstream. During the ceremony held in Brussels, Mariya Gabriel, who is the Digital Economy and Society European Commissioner, acknowledged that the European Union is committed for the purpose of promoting and strengthening the blockchain development. She commented that unlike the past, it is now increasingly becoming difficult to build trust since the time available is becoming less and less. Therefore, to be able to confront our different issues such as balancing renewable energy, fighting cancer, and tracing good authenticity, the different actors must be able to trust one another without the need for a face-to-face meeting. This is able to be achieved through the use of blockchain. From the European Union website post, it is stated that the newly formed organization is readily willing to promote decentralized technologies use and of course, formulating the much needed dedicated regulatory framework. It is stated that the aim of the INATBA is to develop a framework that is able to promote the private and public sector collaboration, legal predictability, regulatory convergence, and the safeguarding of the integrity and transparency of the system. In the ceremony, it was noted that about 48 other organizations had applied for the membership of the organization on the launch day. As was reported earlier in the year, the EBA (European Banking Authority) had recommended that further research is carried out concerning cryptocurrency and to develop a document about the European Union law applicability and suitability in terms of crypto-assets. Moreover, it must not also be forgotten that in the same beginning of the year, an ECB Governing Council member warned that the cryptocurrency bubble was already in the process of collapsing. Of course, I must add that generally, crypto experts agree that we have never been anywhere from experiencing a crypto bubble. All we have witnessed is just a blip, a price crash. Read the full article

The Italian authorities are finally getting serious about blockchain regulation. The Senate in the Mediterranean country is ready to adjust its policies regulating the industry, according to this official statement. The Committee of Constitutional Affairs and the Committee of Public Works have both drafted the decree, which might indeed turn into law if the Senate of the Republic and the Chamber of Deputies approve it. Only then the Agency for Digital Italy will be given green light on setting the technical standards, which will guideline blockchain-related businesses. The decree could indeed become pivotal for Italy's future in technology as it does not only discuss the proposed amendments in the law. It also pays much-needed attention to what distributed ledger technologies really are, how they can be implemented in the everyday life of Italians and how digital identities powered by working blockchain solutions could further boost the use of digitized versions of official documents, their verification, and legal distribution. Unsurprisingly, local media sees this move as the first step in the right direction. Many local news outlets believe that this step could be a sign of a bigger initiative related to the endorsement of blockchain technologies. Despite that the authorities in Italy have not been active on the regulatory front up until now, they seem to be exploring the space as the Ministry of Economic Development brought together a list of 30 blockchain experts, which are given the task of crafting the national strategy in the space. Furthermore, six other European states along Italy signed a memorandum in December 2018, which will see them all promote the adoption of blockchain technology. On top of that, back in September 2018, Italy was one of the 27 countries to form the European Blockchain Partnership (EBP). EBP itself should deliver a blockchain-powered cross-border platform, which is expected to build upon the existing security and privacy standards. And finally, the Italian Banking Association (ABI) has been testing blockchain technology since June last year in order to explore its potential in the field of interbank reconciliations. The trial itself is in its second phase at the moment. Read the full article

The core Monero developer Riccardo Spagni (aka Fluffypony) recently made some remarkable comments regarding the current state of the crypto space. For better or worse he notes that the regulations are going to have a crucial impact on the whole space in the years to come. He made his comments, while attending the “Innovate Finance” event in Davos, Switzerland on January 25. The event itself was hosted by E8 Partners, a digital assets liquidity provider. He kicked off his speech by cooling off the notion that pumps the blockchain/crypto hype in a bad way - “the very existence of crypto is going to cause governments to topple obviously ludicrous pipe dream”. Spagni notably emphasized that blockchain and decentralization cannot alone separate the political and military fields from the hands of the world's wealthiest families. In his own words, the change is not happening overnight and this is why it is more important to spread dev talents equally across the globe. The regulatory landscape is uneven too and due to these talents are fleeing certain regions in favor of others. He notes that companies are slowly but steadily reaching towards countries, which are “open to decentralized projects, through regulation tax breaks.” “This won’t necessarily lead to governments being toppled, but it’s going to lead to an interesting brain drain some of the smartest people on the planet are working and when they start clustering in places that are more friendly from a regulatory perspective, that’s going to create something very, very interesting,“ Fluffypony commented. Unsurprisingly, the brains behind Monero mentioned crypto-friendly countries like Malta, which has already made a name for itself being dubbed the blockchain island. Spagni pointed out that developers will always settle in destinations which offer transparent and robust regulatory frameworks. Last year, the prominent investment figure of Tim Draper made similar remarks in relation to the harsh anti-crypto stance of the Indian government. Draper warned the country's officials that their inadequate actions are most likely to lead to irreversible brain drain. So far Switzerland and Malta are considered to be the best places for emerging crypto and blockchain startups. Read the full article

A group of researchers from the University of Oxford claims that blockchain technologies are on a “silent collision course” with the law. They argue that developers and lawmakers should soon kickstart an open discussion about the regulation of blockchain development. The member of the EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum, Anastasios A. Antoniou, suggests that blockchain developers might do more harm than good by deploying sophisticated smart contracts in their efforts to achieve “order without law”. “The primary source of friction between blockchain and law can be traced to the implied proposition that code-driven frameworks running on blockchains can and should operate outside our jurisdictional legal orders. This is most clearly illustrated when considering the deployment of blockchain-based organizations running entirely on autonomous code, without human consensus,” writes Antoniou. The GDPR policies already put some blockchain projects out of the law. For the uninitiated, some of the guidelines in GDPR suggest that every piece of data should be deletable upon request. Needless to say, blockchain networks operate the other way around being immutable ledger systems. Plus, how do you define whether a token is a security or not? What happens when blockchain businesses fail? Who is in charge of auditing them? According to Antoniou, governments are capable of penetrating and adjusting the blockchain sector, despite that the hype deems this alternative impossible. He gives as an example KYC and AML policies, which are operating worldwide. Though in the down of blockchain cryptocurrency exchanges did not have to comply with them we see that in recent years more and more crypto marketplaces are set to either comply KYC and AML rules or feel the strong hand of the law. Antoniou posits that cooperating with the lawmakers would be more fruitful than trying to fight them. If distributed ledger technology seeks to attain its full potential, it should not attempt to evade or circumvent law,” he writes. “Code should rather embrace the law and engage in an interaction which advances them both.” Another persisting problem comes from the fact that different blockchain startups utilize different core protocols. That being said we may reach a point where each blockchain should be carefully and individually investigated by the authorities. In any case, blockchain needs regulation. We can only hope that it is going to be for the industry well-being. Read the full article

Blockchain always finds a way to sneak into every conversation whether it is chit-chat over a cup of coffee or a discussion in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Even though the EU officials gathered to discuss other European things, they found themselves arguing over blockchain technologies once again. We hope that MEPs finally set their stance on DLTs once and for all. It all started when somebody asked the European Commission whether it has something in mind when it comes to regulating the sector. It turned out that there are separate groups who have quite dissimilar views on the future of the blockchain industry. For instance, the representatives of Romania and France, Cristian-Silviu Busoi and Christelle Leechavalier argue that any regulatory frameworks would be pointless unless we have a matured and well-developed technology. Busoi's concerns are that of the EU is now to regulate the industry, its policies would negatively impact its development. On the other hand, Italian MEP Dario Tamburrano, warns that though innovation is crucial, the authorities cannot afford to “lose control” of immature technologies. Obviously, Tamburrano is for immediate legislation. In contrast, the center-right MEP Antanas Guoga from Lithuania is a little bit more extreme in his call for blockchain adoption. Though he might be considered a blockchain advocate he believes that EU institutions should not waste more time on discussions and should better get involved in the sector instead. Interestingly he is preaching the “resisting is futile” mantra, though he was somewhat unclear what the EU MEPs should do in embracing the technology. Despite that the European Parliament is polarized when it comes to dealing with developing technologies, the Digital Single Market Commissioner Andrus Ansip is satisfied that blockchain technologies are finally getting their fair share of discussions in the European Parliament. He keeps calling for blockchain adoption but in a rather neutral stance as he does not see it as the potential solution to every existing problem. The bad news is that we are unlikely to see any real work done in the near future. The EU has become notorious for constantly revising drafts and generally needing ages to pass a single. Having in mind how complicated blockchain is, we would be surprised if the EU comes to an agreement before the end of the century. Read the full article