Asia and Australia: Crypto and Blockchain News Roundup 12th to 18th January 2019

Asia and Australia

Welcome to another weekly blockchain news roundup from around the world. Here, we present to you all the latest Bitcoin news, continent by continent and country by country.

Japan

Japanese Money Pouring into Mongolian Crypto Mining Sector: Japanese investor Ginco has announced that it is going to increase the mining capacity of its cryptocurrency mining project. The move comes after a sizeable reduction in operating hash power of Chinese miners and Japan may take advantage of it.

Ginco is expected to increase the number of miners in Mongolia from 600 to 1600 miners. The news may give hope to other miners to stay in the business despite the recent price tank and ever-increasing difficulty of mining due to ASIC chips. Ginco has also announced another service aimed at repairing existing mining facilities in the country.

South Korea

Tax Incentive for Blockchain Companies: The South Korean government has given a sizeable boost to the burgeoning cryptocurrency and blockchain industry in the country by adding the sector to the fields of research and development according to a recent communique by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.

With the new classification comes sizeable tax benefits for the sector. The proposed amendment will be implemented in the coming month. The new categorization will allow blockchain companies to receive up to 40% fewer tax deductions with smaller companies getting a bigger share on discount percentage.

While the South Korean government has had a whirlwind relation with the sector mostly due to security hacks in some of its cryptocurrency exchanges, the new move will reinvigorate the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) industry in the Asian country.

India

Bank Closes Account Suspected of Crypto Activity: Online bank Digi Bank has closed down several of its accounts suspected of crypto trading in the country. The move comes despite the government considering lifting the current blanket ban on cryptocurrencies by the central bank in the country.

According to a crypto trader going by the name of Indian CryptoGirl:

“We observed transactions for in cryptocurrencies, hence we are putting a credit freeze in your account. You will not be able to deposit any more funds & within 30 days we will close your account”

While the Indian cryptocurrency users may be facing difficulties right now, the current government is also deliberating hard on allowing the new digital assets to function in the country, albeit under strict regulations.

Malaysia

Government Deliberating on Cryptocurrency Regulation: While the Malaysian government is undecided on how the future of crypto regulations in the country will look like, it has however decided that some rules are needed to govern the space.

While the Federal Minister for Territory Abdul Samad is of the opinion that the government is undecided about the future of the sector, other news emerging from the country show that the government is adamant to flex its muscles when it comes to unregistered cryptocurrency exchanges and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). Illegal ICOs will reportedly face a fine of up to USD 1.5 million for unregistered operations in the country.

New Zealand

Crypto Exchange Cryptopia Shuts Down Amid Reports of Sizeable Hack: Kiwi cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia has closed down its website after a reported breach occurred in its servers that amounted to a sizeable loss.

While the website itself reads that the company is under maintenance, tweets from Whale Alerts and other large transaction reporters show that around USD 1.8 million worth of tokens was stolen from the exchange. The exchange is yet to announce how its users will be compensated. The company also admitted the hack in a series of Twitter posts.

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