Largest Newspaper of China to Launch Blockchain Lab in Partnership with Infrastructure Provider

Andres Chavez
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Largest Newspaper of China to Launch Blockchain Lab in Partnership with Infrastructure Provider

People’s Daily Online, the biggest and most prominent newspaper group of China, announced today that it signed a contract with Xunlei Limited to work together and launch a blockchain laboratory. The piece of news was spread via a press release this Tuesday, October 23.

The project will be managed by People’s Capital, which is the Venture Capital (VC) branch of the official CCP (Communist Party of China) newspaper group. The deal will allow People’s Daily Online to establish a strategic partnership with Xunlei, a company based in Shenzhen. The two entities will build a lab that will focus on technology innovation at the Research Institute of the People’s Capital.

The Goal: Find New Applications for the Blockchain Technology at an Industrial Level

The alliance is part of a broader project by the CCP and, specifically, the People’s Daily Online. It wants to experiment with blockchain technology and find new applications and uses for everyday life at all levels, with an emphasis on what they call “high-level industrial service platform.”

CCP’s idea is to organize competitions, seminars, workshops, in order to promote and identify startups in the blockchain industry and achieve systematic register of all projects within the field. To accomplish that, they have secured the resources and skills of the Xunlei Limited Group.

The press release states that the blockchain lab is just part of an original agreement between the two companies achieved this summer, precisely on July 22nd.

The CCP, not to be left behind in the midst of the crypto fever, published a primer on blockchain technology and its potential applications. The general manager of the newspaper, Ye Zhenzhen, explained that the most prominent aspect of blockchain technology is its operating mechanism and that China wanted to achieve a fair distribution of resources by applying the model.

A Little Bit More About the People’s Daily Online

The biggest and most popular newspaper among a series of government-controlled publications, the People’s Daily Online is the digital version of the People’s Daily, which has been around since 1948.

The People’s Daily Online was, at the moment, the first news page listed on the A-share market, in 2012. The media entity is the most influential instrument and means of propaganda of Chinese authorities.

A Little Bit More about Xunlei Limited

The other primary actor of the alliance announced today by Chinese officials, Xunlei Limited started its business operations as a cloud computing firm before switching its modus operandi to a blockchain infrastructure provider.

Xunlei Limited is known as the “BitTorrent of China” because it implements a P2P sharing system that supports HTTP, FTP, and BitTorrent protocols named the Xunlei download manager. The form also created and popularized a distributed file system called The ThunderChain File System (TCFS) and ThunderChain Open Platform.

About the latter, it is a decentralized file storage system that, according to Xunlei, has the necessary means to process “over 1 million transactions per second and is embedded with strong scalability and stability.”

By: Andrés Chávez

ING Bank launches security protocol for clients based on Ethereum

Emanuel Adrade
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ING Bank launches security protocol for clients based on Ethereum

The Dutch firm ING Bank announced on October 21st the launch of a new protocol that improves the privacy of data for customers.

They called this solution “Zero-Knowledge Range Test” (ZKRP). This is a consequence of the similar solution launched last year by the company. Both aim to overcome one of the biggest obstacles to the use of blockchain in financial services, i.e. the protection of data privacy.

In this sense, ING’s Director of Wholesale Banking Innovation, Annerie Vreugdenhil, stated that “our general objective with distributed ledger technology and specifically blockchain is to create solutions that allow our clients to transform their business models. One of the key elements in this process for clients is how to deal with data and privacy.”

This new system validates users’ information, not asking for the exact number of some confidential data, such as the salary, but rather requesting a range of numbers that contains the real value.

But it is not restricted to numbers only. ZKSM includes other types of information, such as locations and names. In other words, this technology allows information to be shared without revealing contextual details. “This makes the new ZKSM protocol more powerful,” says the company.

Additionally, the ZKSM solution was designed in the Ethereum network. But its developers claim that it is much more efficient than current solutions.

“At ING, we are lucky to have some of the best minds in the industry working on our program,” Annerie said. “We are excited about our innovative solution is ready to be implemented and tested.”

By Emanuel Andrade

Experts Help the Government of Japan Simplify Cryptocurrency Taxes

Emanuel Adrade
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Experts Help the Government of Japan Simplify Cryptocurrency Taxes

A committee of tax experts seeks to advise the government of the Asian country on the process of simplifying taxes on cryptocurrencies.

The committee met earlier this week to discuss the proposal to change the current cryptocurrency tax filing system. Part of the problem, according to the committee, lies in the fact that calculating the profits of cryptocurrency for tax purposes is a complex issue and this discourages some owners of digital assets from declaring them when paying their taxes.

Many cryptoactive holders in Japan have already complained about the complexity of the tax system imposed on cryptocurrencies. It is worth to highlight that a petition on Change.org that sought to request a simplification of the system managed to get more than 11 thousand signatures.

The reason is that the National Tax Agency of Japan has seven tax ranges, with rates ranging from 5 percent to 45 percent based on profits at present. The taxes to the inhabitant, one of the most important progressive taxes, are charged by the prefectural and municipal governments at a rate of 10%.

This means that people with more earnings pay the highest percentage. For example, investors who generate annual profits of more than 40 million yen (approximately US $ 365,000) pay a 55% rate on their cryptocurrency revenues (counting municipal taxes).

This presents a strong incentive for these citizens to try to evade taxes or not declare digital assets. In this sense, the committee believes that simplifying the process of filing taxes on cryptocurrencies will increase tax collection since it would discourage tax evasion.

Halfway through the year, the country’s Deputy Prime Minister proposed reducing taxes to subtract higher to 20%, similar to that applied in the shares and currencies.

By Emanuel Andrade

SEC Creates a Center for Cryptoactives Entrepreneurships

Maria Rodríguez
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SEC Creates a Center for Cryptoactives Entrepreneurships

The FinHub portal will allow sharing information about events related to technological development in finance, including bets with cryptoactive technology.

The Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States (SEC) launched an initiative called “Strategic Center for innovation and financial technology” (FinHub). Its main objective is to advise new ventures that use cryptoactive technology, digital financing or artificial intelligence.

This financial regulator seeks to attend startups staff. SEC’s intention is to guide entrepreneurs before the launch of their projects, make those projects become true faster and avoid issues or problems that may arise “under federal securities laws”.

Jay Clayton, SEC’s Chairperson, explained that the commission will “work with investors and market participants on new approaches to capital formation, market structure, and financial services, with a view to improving, and in no way reducing, the protection to investors”.

About FinHub, Clayton pointed out: “FinHub provides a central point of focus to monitor and engage in innovación, in securities markets that are promising, but that also requires a flexible and rapid regulatory response to executing our mission”.

Clayton affirms the center will be composed of experienced SEC staff in financial technology. In addition, said center replaces several internal work groups that deal with similar issues. The FinHub portal will allow sharing information of its own, or entrepreneurs’ information about events related to technological development in finance, including bets with cryptoactive technology.

SEC announced, without offering details, that it will hold a forum next year focused on distributed accounting technology and cryptoactives.

The area of finance, in general, is one of the most regulated in the United States. Some examples are SEC and the Commission on Trade in Futures on Goods (CFTC), which keep an eye on any aspect that may disturb investors’ interests and the stability of the system.

With the expansion of cryptocurrencies and the price increase of bitcoin, different authorities and North American entities have put the magnifying glass on the ecosystem in order to understand its nature and see what extent they can intervene for its regulation; something that has been increasing last year. Since then, the CFCT has warned about the appearance of fraudulent schemes which involve cryptocurrencies, market manipulations and capital raising that leads to fraud. Even cryptoactives generated conflicts between different regulatory agencies because of the legal gaps that exist in this country. This is because each state has a particular legislation.

Where it does not exist or is insufficient, SEC’s decisions have a greater incidence. With this new decision, SEC recognizes, even more clearly, that there is a sector of the digital economy that is expanding; thus, they consider it appropriate to establish a higher level of supervision, control and, if it is necessary, restriction of actions.

By María Rodríguez

China introduces regulations for Chinese blockchain technology users

Maria Rodríguez
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China introduces regulations for Chinese blockchain technology users

Users have to use their real names in cryptoactive information services. This regulation is subject to a public consultation until November 2nd, 2018.

 The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) presented a regulatory proposal for blockchain users. CAC wants them to provide real information on the servers which work with that kind of technology.

Service providers related to blockchain would require users to provide their identification card numbers, their mobile phone number and their real names in order to login on the platform. They must also report any transgression committed, if that is the case. This approach is in public consultation, which will culminate on November 2nd, 2018.

The name of the project is “Regulation for the management of information services of blockchain”. CAC published the announcement on its official website last Friday, without indicating when the regulations would take effect.

Local media detail this project is the first set of rules made for blockchain industry, whose provides privacy to its users. Blockchain technology ensures cryptocurrencies transactions security.

Blockchain service providers are the “entities or nodes” which provide information or technical support services based on this technology, indicates the 23-article document. These companies are the ones that should require users to provide true information.

The way

Service providers must complete a mandatory registration before reaching ten days from the beginning of their operations. Chinese authorities will conduct an annual audit to monitor the different companies and also the compliment of the process.

Online information services based on the chain of blocks, such as news portals, medical care, or education, will be reviewed and approved by the authorities before being registered.

If this regulation is approved, companies will be obliged to censor the content considered by the authorities as a “danger to national security” or information “prohibited by laws and regulations”.

In past months, censored information was published through different cryptoactive networks. The proposed regulation would be a way to avoid these situations.

Last April, activists from the MeToo organization used blockchain Ethereum to disseminate a letter denouncing a case of sexual abuse that occurred at Peking University, more than two decades ago. In July, the Ethereum network was used to publish a research article that revealed the low quality of medicines manufactured by the Chinese laboratory Changchun Changsheng Biotechnology.

It can be pointed out as antecedents of this regulation the prohibitions that the government of China implemented on some activities related to cryptocurrencies such as the impossibility of trading using cryptoactive.

Specialists in cryptocurrencies issues remember that blockchain data cannot be deleted or modified. But this aspect goes against Chinese laws. Hence, the subject will continue in debate.

By María Victoria Rodríguez

Six Platforms meant to the Exchange of “Petro” – Venezuela

Samuel Paz
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Six Platforms meant to the Exchange of “Petro” – Venezuela

The Venezuelan government authorized six (6) local platforms for the exchange of cryptocurrencies to begin the exchange of the national currency, El Petro (PTR). According to local newspapers, this currency will be available for exchange from October 17 on websites, which the government claims are “exchanges.”

It is important to highlight that Nicolás Maduro, President of Venezuela, previously announced that there were 16 certified companies for the marketing of this national cryptocurrency.

Among the websites enabled to support the Petro are Amberes Coin (amberescoin.com), Afx Trade (afx.trade), Bancar (bancarexchange.io), Cave Blockchain (caveblockchain.com), Criptolago (criptolago.com.ve), and finally Cryptia (cryptiaexchange.com).

Some of this, inter alia, began to promote the Petro. In this regard, Maduro ensures that the exchange houses that list the national currency are among the most “powerful” in the world.

Obviously, this could not be further from reality. As an example, Cryptia claims that it supports trading Bitcoin, Ripple, Dash, and Ethereum; however, it has a trading volume of zero (0).

Maduro’s government launched a new “whitepaper” a few weeks ago, to which an Ethereum developer concluded that it would be nothing more than an “absurd copy of Dash’s whitepaper.”

Consequently, everything is becoming more confusing. In fact, Venezuelan residents comment that, currently, there is not even the slightest sign of the existence of this cryptocurrency, even though minimum wages and basic products are anchored to it.

In this regard, a local trader said:

“There is no way to anchor the prices or exchange rates to a currency that is not exchanged”

These statements indicate that, despite President Maduro’s continuing claims of success over his oil-backed crypto-active, his citizens have not enjoyed the supposed benefits inherent in the commercialization of that currency.

By Samuel Paz

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