Best Stories of the Week
Bitcoin’s Price Slips as Satoshi potentially moves coins?
Bitcoin’s price continued its fall post halving, struggling to keep above the $9,000 mark. In a worrisome outlook for the price, the token failed to hit resistance levels above $9,300. At the time of writing Bitcoin is at $8,922, with some pundits suggesting it could fall to $8,160.
Alongside the tough week for the price, news of its unknown founder, who works under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto was revealed. Apparently, the founder began moving some of his Bitcoin tokens after a previously untouched mine saw activity for the first time in 11 years. The date, February 2009, was just a month after Bitcoin was first created, so many have assumed it the work of the mysterious founder.
Cryptocurrency censorship: Asia Crypto Today, Mia Tam Twitter Censored
Our presenter and analyst, Mia Tam, had her first column this week and started it by calling out the social media censorship of the cryptocurrency industry. Asia Crypto Today and Mia had bath seen their accounts suspended for yet unknown reasons. The news come alongside of other cryptocurrency media blackouts from Twitter and Youtube. Action must be taken to stop the infringements on free speech from rogue companies.
China’s Two Sessions 2020 proves fruitful for Blockchain
China’s legislative bodies and political figures all met for China’s Two Sessions meeting last Friday. The meeting, which will set out the next set of policies, has seen a number of blockchain-related bills. Both the China’s National’s People’s Congress (NPC), the parliament and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the leading political advisory board, put forward their own bills.
This year is special for the Two Sessions as it signifies the creation of the next Five Year Plan, the 14th in China’s history post-revolution. Blockchain and the new digital currency electronic payment (DCEP) have been highlighted as key drivers for the next five years.
Russia Contemplates Bitcoin ban law
Back in March, ACT reported on the rumoured cryptocurrency ban which Russian politicians are pondering. Now, more details are sadly coming out about the “On Digital Financial Assets” bill. According to RT news, Russia’s lower house (the State Duma) is deliberating on the draft bill which proposes 500,000 rubles ($7,000) to two million rubles (app. $28,200) fines or in more serious cases a sentence of up to five years of forced labour or imprisonment for up to seven years. Should the bill come into place, it could force the large cryptocurrency community out of Russia, potentially to places like Belarus, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan.
Bank Of Korea Accelerates CBDC plans
South Korea’s, The Bank of Korea, is accelerating its central bank digital currency (CBDC) plans and hopes to have a pilot potentially by the end of 2020. The news comes from local media site Chosun who say that the BOK has conducted a study that will be a foundation of the proposed digital currency. Focusing on technology, the report has analysed the various efforts from 14 nations, including China and its digital Yuan; the United Kingdom, Sweden and Japan. Other countries include Norway, Eastern Caribbean, the Bahamas, Switzerland, Singapore, Canada, Thailand, France, Hong Kong and the European Central Bank (ECB).
Korea has hastened its CBDC plans since the outbreak of the coronavirus. Concerns of hygiene and a growing shift to online payment services have also pushed the Bank who had previously been tepid towards the idea.
