Japan’s Self-Regulatory Group Stiffens Crypto Storage
New crypto regulations will be introduced in Japan. However, this time the official regulator Financial Services Agency (FSA) is not involved in the process. New regulations are coming from the Japanese Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA).
Cryptocurrency exchanges, store most of their crypto assets offline in the "cold" wallets. However, some of the funds are also held in "hot" wallets that are connected to the Web, which makes them vulnerable to possible hacker attacks. The new JVCEA rules set a limit on the share of assets that member stock exchanges can store this way. JVCEA aims to set a maximum amount for online managed assets for exchanges. According to this, exchanges can keep 10%-20% of client assets online. The association wants to implement this adjustment to prevent a similar hack like the recent Tech Bureau Corp. incident.
Ethereum Drops ASIC Miners in Constantinople Hardfork?
At the meeting for Ethereum developers held last Friday of September, Ethereum head of the Security Foundation Martin Holst Swende supported an idea to amend the PoW-algorithm designed to block the work of ASIC-mining in the network. Among the ETH developers, there are opinions that the use of ASIC-miners can increase centralization in the network. Ethash — which is also used by Ethereum Classic and a variety of other coins — has been ASIC-resistant, which allowed the algorithm to be mined profitably using GPU chips. Currently, the GPU miners are discussing alternative scenarios as mining ethereum is not profitable for them anymore.
At the meeting, Swende noted that a change to the software called ProgPoW should be implemented in “parallel” with the Constantinople update coming this month, "if the technical underpinnings are there."
Tether's Bank Threatened With Closure
Puerto Rican Noble Bank, which, presumably, serves Tether, was threatened with closure. According to the sources of Modern Consensus blog, the bank could not find financing. The administration of the bank tried to find financial support from one of the large Tether coin holders, but the requests were not satisfied.
According to one source, the bank has a few days left to receive the necessary money. What amount of funds the bank needs to find is not specified. Modern Consensus adds that there are problems with Tether itself. An interlocutor of the blog from a large crypto-bureau reported that one of the stablecoin holders was trying to sell "tens of millions of Tether", but did not find anybody interested in the offer.
What Else:
- To celebrate the World Vegetarian Day, IHODL decided to remind you how close vegetarian community is to the emerging technology of blockchain and how it is used to improve the planet we live on.
- One of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges Bitfinex is going to launch the beta of EOSfinex, a zero-fee decentralized exchange powered by the EOS blockchain.
- The first fully free decentralized cryptocurrency exchange StellarX is launched after successful beta testing that was held during last months.
- The Chinese tech company JD.com will open a research institute called Smart City in order to research the issue of creating "smart cities" with the use of blockchain and artificial intelligence.
At 19:30 (GMT+1) total cryptocurrency market capitalization stands at $221 billion
Odyssey (+31,26%) showed the best growth in the top-100
Market Dynamics
The trading volume of cryptocurrencies for 24 hours reached $14,8 (-0,2 billion per day)
Mining Profitability
- BTC $2,2 for 10 TH/s ↘️
- ETH $0,18 for 10 MH/s ↗️
- BCH $0,25 for 1 TH/s↗️
- LTC $3,39 for 1 GH/s ↘️
- DASH $0,09 for 1 GH/s ↗️
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