Ethereum has been earmarked by many cryptocurrency experts as heading for a massive spike in value early in 2019 as its Constantinople hard fork approaches.
Ethereum which recently lost its spot as number 1 altcoin by market cap to Ripple has developers hoping that its hard fork scheduled for January will make the transition from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS) more effective and boost ETH’s market value moving into the new year.
In terms of development, Ethereum is lagging, while other competitors such as Ethereum Classic (ETC), Cardano (ADA), Lisk (LSK) and Quantum (QTUM) are progressing with far more intent. Despite “the sky falling” as some commentators have maintained, Joe Lubin, Ethereum co-founder, asserts that Ethereum protocol development is accelerating. He suggests that this will result in “the continued maturation of the token economy, which will see many exciting consumer utility tokens and tokenized security launched in the new year.”
The common view is that ETH is now well positioned for a price boost prior to the release of Constantinople, not only regaining its position as the leading altcoin platform. Clearly, though the Ethereum team is hoping for a more successful outcome than the last hard fork, Bitcoin Cash, leading to heavy market losses and a hash rate war.
Constantinople is scheduled for the middle of January 2019 and designed to increase the speed and efficiency of the Ethereum network, as well as making it more economically viable than the current status quo. Ethereum Classic (ETC) will still remain in play after the fork.
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Japan’s financial regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA) is reported to have received 190 cryptocurrency license applications from exchanges as 2019 approaches.
This happened after the FSA recently granted the newly formed Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA) in Japan the power to oversee self-regulation within the cryptocurrency industry.
The JVCEA had already applied to the FSA to become cryptocurrency’s one and only self-regulatory body in the country. It also attempted to stem the tide of transactions earlier this year when it recommended its own “appropriate regulations” for growth by proposing new rules that would affect the way exchanges operate, placing privacy coin listings and insider trading under the regulatory microscope.
Another tool for limiting the transaction surge suggested by JVCEA was to enforce trading caps and restrictions according to age group, i.e. the very old and the very young. The FSA regulator has already released figures showing that in April, there were 142,000 crypto traders in Japan. That monthly figure represents a small percentage of the total of 3 million Japanese traders.
Last month, FSA’s Study Group on Virtual Currency Exchange Industry concluded its tenth meeting. The group classified tokens according to three categories: virtual currencies with no issuers (like Bitcoin), virtual currencies with issuers, and virtual currencies that not only have issuers but also distribute profits.
The country’s top financial regulator Toshihide Endo has suggested that the industry needs to grow under “appropriate regulation” and as such won’t need government intervention to further enforce curbs on how exchanges operate within the country.
The FSA commented last week that:
“We think it necessary to work with the JVCEA closely so that the association can successfully perform self-regulatory functions through the establishment and application of self-regulatory rules and monitoring of their members.”
Japan is currently the global leader in the market development of cryptocurrencies, although, in terms of public adoption, many Japanese have suggested that the prices of cryptocurrencies must become far more stable in 2019 for people to use them for regular purchases throughout all sectors across the country.
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On April 23-24 the global blockchain and cryptocurrency industry meets at Blockchain Life 2019 Asia in Singapore.
| 5000+ attendees
| 80+ speakers
| 70+ countries
| 120+ booths
Top managers of international blockchain companies, crypto traders and analysts, funds and investors, perspective ICO and STO projects, developers and miners will meet again to discuss current industry trends, strategies, innovations and show how to earn money in this industry.
Blockchain Life forum is an annual event that brings together international blockchain and crypto-community at the one place. In 2018, the event was held in St. Petersburg (Russia) and became the largest industry event in Europe, gathered more than 5000 attendees.
Top speakers of the «Blockchain Life» forums were: Roger Ver (founder Bitcoin.com), Sergei Khitrov (founder Listing.Help, Icotop.io), Jason Hu (WBO), Miko Matsumura (Evercoin), Martin Kuvandzhiev (co-founder Bitcoin Gold), Edward Chen (Huobi Exchange), Aldrich Victorino (OKEx Exchange), Charles Cai (Dalian Wanda Group) and other leading international industry professionals.
The venue for Blockchain Life 2019 Asia will be at the world’s leading hotel Marina Bay Sands, located in the heart of Singapore. Participants are able to attend speeches by world-leading experts, meet international companies in the exhibition area, and communicate with like-minded people and experts in networking areas.
The list of the first speakers will be published soon.
Get your Early Bird ticket from $ 149: https://asia.blockchain-life.com
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Electronics giant Samsung appears to be turning its direction towards cryptocurrencies as it continues to develop the next generation of phones.
This time it is targeting the UK market, with an application already filed with the U.K. Intellectual Property Office for its ‘Samsung Crypto Wallet’. The suggestion is that Samsung is planning to begin building cryptocurrency facilities into its popular range of phones which retail at around $750 in the US.
The trademark application states that Samsung is to develop: “Computer software for use as a cryptocurrency wallet; Computer software for cryptocurrency transfer and payment using blockchain technology; Computer application software for smartphones, namely, software to allow users to transfer cryptocurrency based on blockchain technology and pay via 3rd party’s application software.”
Speculations have been circulating for some time about whether the South Korean giant plans to take the cryptocurrency route, particularly since its filing of three EU trademark applications for blockchain- and cryptocurrency related software in December of this year.
The area of blockchain is one as yet which has been little explored by major phone developers and manufacturers. The first move into the sector was made by Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC recently when the company developed a decentralized bowser called Brave on its HTC Exodus phone calling it the “the first native blockchain phone.” The Exodus provides support for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) networks.
Also in November of this year, Sirin Labs’ developed its new smartphone, Finney. The smartphone will compete with the likes of HTC’s Exodus DLT phone and other non-blockchain phones for a market share of the trillion-dollar-plus smartphone industry.
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Italy has made a successful effort towards blockchain inclusion and with its recently published list of 30 high-level experts to manage the development of its blockchain industry, things are finally taking shape for the European nation.
The recruitment process for competent personnel to manage “the development of the national strategy on technologies based on distributed registers and blockchain” began in September, when the Ministry of Economic Development published its expression of interest.
Three months later, the MISE has finally come up with a list dubbed “members of the expert group”. These experts are Italy-based and have been drawn from different fields as per the criterion of the initial request put forth in September, to include business, research centers, and the consumer world – all with sufficient knowledge on blockchain technology. The group is headed by the Minister or his delegate.
Notable personalities on the team include Angiolini Giorgio who has over 20 years of telecom experience and currently is the head of marketing portfolio, Italtel; Atzori Marcella, a member of the Board of Directors of the Blockchain & Society Policy Research Lab of the University of Amsterdam; Monaco Marco, leader of the Blockchain Competence Center of PWC Italy and responsible for the DLT security and Cryptocurrencies areas of PwC Global.
Back in September, the MISE said its priority is for the country to “know, deepen and address the issue of distributed ledger technologies (DLT) and blockchain, as well as increase public and private investments.”
The Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Minister of Economic Development, Labour and Social Policies Luigi Di Maio has high optimism for the use of blockchain. He said in September that “emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain are destined to radically change our lives, the society in which we live and the economic and productive fabric of the country.”
Italy is taking positive steps in solidifying its place in the blockchain industry relative to other EU countries. It has also taken steps to protect its citizens against fraudulent crypto-related practices with recent public warnings issued alongside cease and desist orders to defaulters.
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