Puerto Rico’s Noble Bank International, which is known for reportedly opening accounts for USD-backed token Tether and crypto exchange Bitfinex, is allegedly searching for a buyer, Bloomberg reports Thursday, October 2.

Citing an unnamed person familiar with the case, Bloomberg reports that Noble Bank has lost Tether and Bitfinex as clients, among others, and is currently on the search for a buyer. The bank, which sources tell Bloomberg is no longer profitable, might sell for a price from $5 to $10 million, which is mostly formed by the value of its Puerto Rican license for international financial operations.

Noble Bank officials declined to comment the matter to Bloomberg, while Tether and Bitfinex were not immediately available for the comments.

Back in 2017, U.S.. bank Wells Fargo dropped Tether and Bitfinex — who share a CEO, Jan Ludovicus van der Velde — as clients, Bloomberg notes. The two entities had also reportedly

Tether and Bitfinex were looking for other banks when Noble — one of the only two full-reserve banks in Puerto Rico that publicly operates with crypto assets — emerged as a possible option, according to a Bitmex report.

While Tether had broken ties with their auditor in January 2018, an unofficial audit of Tether in June reported that the stablecoin has enough in dollar reserves to back its tokens. Bloomberg notes that Noble was audited by Puerto Rico’s bank regulator last year in a move that “raised concerns,” but that the bank has not been “faulted publicly.”

As experts told Cointelegraph in early 2018, Puerto Rico was seen by many as a possible crypto paradise, as U.S. taxpayers were not obliged to include incomes from sources within Puerto Rico to in their tax declarations. However, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and local island authorities were expected to intervene in the situation in order to get "billions" from crypto taxation.

In possible competition with Tether, three new stablecoins backed with the U.S. dollar launched this September. In the beginning of the month, Paxos and Gemini separately announced two stablecoins called the “Gemini dollar (GUSD)” and the “Paxos Standard (PAX),” both backed 1:1 with crypto. Later, Circle Internet Financial launched its own USD-backed digital token named the “USD Coin.”

According to CoinMarketCap data, Bitfinex saw a 23 percent decrease in daily trading volume on Monday, October 2.

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Venture Capital Investment in Blockchain and Crypto Up 280% in 2018, Report ShowsNEWS
“Traditional” venture capital (VC) investment in blockchain and crypto firms has almost tripled in the first three quarters of 2018, according to a new Diar report published September 30.

Diar cites data from Pitchbook that indicates that blockchain and crypto-related firms have raised almost $3.9 billion in VC capital in so far this year — a 280 percent rise as compared with last year. The rise comes not just in terms of an increasing number of deals, but also in the burgeoning median value of each, which has grown by over $1 million this year.





The combined total of the ten largest deals in 2018 came to $1.3 billion, with nine of these representing traditional equity investments, rather than purchases of utility crypto tokens. The outlier was the DFINITY token, which raised a combined $163 million from VC investors Andreessen Horowitz, Hashed, and Polychain Capital.

Pitchbook’s figures revealed that Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group (DCG) was “by far” the most prolific investor from the VC sector, closing over 110 deals in the crypto and blockchain space this year. DCG outflanked both Blockchain Capital and Pantera Capital, whose combined deals clocked in at 100.

Other strong investors included VC firms Andreessen Horowitz, Danhua Capital, and Future Perfect Ventures, alongside “active angels” Tim Draper, Naval Ravikant, Roger Ver, and Barry Silbert.

Beyond these major players, Diar reports that close to 2,000 investors have closed deals with at least one blockchain firm this year — the fifty most active of these have invested in “at least” eight. In terms of investor profiles, 52 percent of investors were not exclusively focused on the crypto and blockchain sector, but sealed their deals as part of a more diverse portfolio.

Lastly, Diar also analyzed the geographic distribution of the VC capital that flows into blockchain, with U.S.-based investors representing the lion’s share at 79 percent, followed by 12 percent from China, and 2 percent from South Korea and Singapore respectively.

Diar’s new report also includes a section on the phenomenon of new banking operations that aim to facilitate the blockchain industry, whether blockchain-exclusive banks built “from the ground up,” banks that integrate fiat and crypto services, or the rising number of crypto-related firms that are securing banking licenses.

As reported earlier today, South Korea’s largest VC firm, Korea Investment Partners (KIP), has invested in its first blockchain startup — one that specializes in harnessing the technology for supply chain management solutions. KIP is known for its investments in high-ranking firms that include Naver — Korea’s largest search engine, as well as owner of the  popular Japanese messaging app LINE — and Korean messaging giant Kakao, among others.

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A Ukrainian legislator has urged parliament during a speech on Monday, October 1 to review his alternative bill on cryptocurrencies that offers to freeze taxes for crypto traders up to 2030.

MP Yuriy Derevyanko, a member of the anti-corruption Movement of New Forces founded back in 2017 by former Georgian politician Mikheil Saakashvili, introduced his version of the bill at the conciliation board of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the country's unicameral parliament.
"The bill provides tax exemptions for all the participants of crypto market up to 31 December, 2029," Derevyanko stated. He further explained the importance of such a decision for the Ukrainian economy:

"I believe we need to impose a moratorium on taxation of [the crypto] area for the next 10 years. We have to regulate and legalize this segment, which will become an engine for a new economy.”

The alternative bill, registered September 27, offers slightly different definitions for cryptocurrencies, blockchain, mining, and tokens. According to the document, tax holidays will refer to all income from crypto deals both for individuals and entities.



Derevyanko's document opposes the main bill, which several MPs of president Petro Poroshenko's party has put forward earlier this September. Per the above graphic, the main difference between the two bills consists of their approach to taxation.

As Cointelegraph has explained, the first draft offers a five percent tax for individuals and legal entities operating with virtual currency assets, such as coins and tokens. Starting January 1, 2024, the tax for business revenues from crypto will rise up to 18 percent. This, the document states, might help Ukraine draw an additional 1.27 billion hryvnia ($43 million) to the budget annually from 2019-2024.
As Cointelegraph reported earlier, Ukraine has repeatedly expressed its desire to create a national digital currency tied to local fiat (hryvnia).

Ukraine’s draft cryptocurrency legislation also contains regulatory provisions against money laundering, terrorist financing, and other criminal activities.

Earlier in June, Ukrainian police arrested four men who were suspected of running at least six fake cryptocurrency exchanges. Later, the authorities questioned users allegedly deceived by fraudulent exchanges.

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South Korea’s largest venture capital (VC) firm, Korea Investment Partners (KIP), is investing in its first blockchain startup, TEMCO, according to an October 1 press release.
KIP is known for its investments in high-ranking firms that include Naver — Korea’s largest search engine, as well as owner of the  popular Japanese messaging app LINE — and Korean messaging giant Kakao, among others. Both LINE and Kakao have made multiple inroads into the crypto space, with the former launching its own crypto token and exchange, and the latter establishing its own blockchain subsidiary.

According to its official website, TEMCO specializes in supply chain management solutions that use smart contracts on a public blockchain to help enterprises securely track products in an auditable manner, from distribution to eventual consumption. The startup will reportedly launch a token pre-sale in November 2018.

The backing of an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) by KIP comes around a month after Korea’s venture enterprise division controversially decided to place crypto-related business in the same category as organizations that handle bars and nightclub — thus denying enterprises in the space a wide range of benefits, including tax reductions.

Korea, nonetheless, remains a major presence in the crypto space, reportedly having the  third-largest crypto exchange market in the world after the United States and Japan. This spring, the South Korean government revealed a positive reorientation for domestic crypto and blockchain legislation, hinting at plans to make domestic ICOs legal again —- the debate over which has continued this summer.

Cointelegraph reported in July that Korean regulators had pledged to introduce new legislation that would be conducive to blockchain investment, the same month as three Korean ministries were said to be working to produce the final draft of a comprehensive blockchain industry classification scheme for the country.

In August, the country’s finance ministry announced it would be investing around $4.4 billion in 2019 to nurture eight sectors of the domestic economy, including the blockchain sector.
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Chinese cryptocurrency exchange Huobi has responded to accusations it has “colluded” with EOS on “mutual voting” practices, Tuesday, October 2.

In a brief statement, the exchange said an investigation into the allegations which Cointelegraph reported on October 1 was “still ongoing.”

“Based on the initial investigation, there were no financial contracts involved between Huobi and any third party,” the statement reads.

“The investigation is still on-going [sic] and therefore, we seek your patience and co-operation [sic] in this matter.”

On Monday, Block.One, the parent company of the EOS platform, had issued a statement of its own saying it “was aware” several parties had levelled accusations of voting process manipulation at certain participants. Block.One called the claims “unverified.”

“We believe it is important to ensure a free and democratic election process within EOS and may, as we deem appropriate, vote with other holders to reinforce the integrity of this process,” the statement read.

The EOS voting process had previously come under fire from cryptocurrency community figures, among them Ethereum (ETC) co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who had warned about the potential for manipulation last year.

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Investors in German ICOs have lost up to 90 percent of their capital, Cointelegraph auf Deutsch reports Monday, October 1.

German business magazine WirtschaftsWoche membandingkan the token issue prices of Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) carried out by German startups with the prices of early September 2018. The report found that, with up to 90 percent loss in value, the German startup coins lost even more value than lead coins like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), which have also fallen sharply following record highs at the end of 2017.

WirtschaftsWoche has found that, so far, only eight startups with a head office in Germany have completed an ICO. Many other German ICOs were carried out by legally independent companies abroad. The coin of financial group Naga
Among the numerous German token publishers, only the financing platform Neufund and the shopping app Wysker managed to keep the value of their tokens stable. Five other projects, such as the Frankfurt financial start-ups Savedroid and Iconiq Lab, have lost between 40 and 92 percent in value, respectively.

Last summer, IT industry association Bitkom reported that German IT startups continue to prefer a classic Initial Public Offering (IPO) over an ICO for raising capital. In a survey of 302 IT and internet startups, 22 percent of respondents reported that they planned to go public, while only three percent said they wanted to raise funds with a token offering.

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Institutional investors have replaced high net-worth individuals as the biggest buyers of cryptocurrency transactions worth over $100,000, Bloomberg reported October 1.

According to Bloomberg, traditional investors and buyers such as hedge funds have become more involved into the $220 billion cryptocurrency market through private transactions. Bloomberg also notes that miners — the biggest sellers on the market — have begun scheduling regular coin sales instead of holding or offloading them during market rallies.

Bobby Cho, global head of trading at the Chicago-based cryptocurrency trading unit of DRW Holdings LLC, Cumberland, told Bloomberg that “the Wild West days of crypto are really turning the corner,” and that the situation demonstrates “the professionalization that’s happening across the board in this space.” Cho said:

"One of the biggest criticisms of crypto by institutional investors has been the volatility. Over the last four to six months, the market has been trading in a very tight range, and that’s seems to be corresponding with traditional financial institutions becoming more comfortable diving into the space."

Hedge funds and miners have reportedly been shifting sales to the over-the-counter (OTC) market. Per researchers from Digital Assets Research and TABB Group, the OTC market facilitated $250 million to $30 billion in trades per day in April, while recently exchanges have handled about $15 billion in daily trades.

Sam Doctor, managing director and head of data science at Fundstrat Global Advisers, told Bloomberg that the increasing number of institutional investors entering the market causes more of an imbalance, which makes brokerage firms enter the industry to assist institutional buyers find inventory.

Last month, Cointelegraph reported that Bitcoin (BTC) investors and speculators held their positions over the summer, while markets seem to have become more stable overall, according to a new study by Chainalysis. “The market seems to have recalibrated after the entry of so many new market participants with different beliefs and expectations than those who held Bitcoin prior to 2017,” the study further reads.

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“Big Four” audit and consulting firm Deloitte has outlined five basic areas of development for blockchain technology in order achieve widespread adoption, according to a study published September 28.

According to Deloitte, in order to be adopted by enterprises on a mass scale, blockchain technology should overcome five major obstacles – the possibility of time-consuming operations, lack of standardization, high costs and complexity blockchain applications, regulatory uncertainty, as well as the absence of collaboration between blockchain-related firms.

Identifying the area that needs the most development, Deloitte singled out the problem of possible operational delays on a distributed ledger network. The company emphasized that slow transaction speed is one of the main reasons for many players to avoid considering blockchain as a technology that can be applied in “large-scale applications.”

Another major obstacle for blockchain on the path to widespread adoption is lack of standardization. Deloitte pointed out that the lack of standardization prevents technology disruptors from interact with each other. The consulting giant cites the fact that there are over 6,500 active blockchain projects on GitHub, with most of them based on different protocols, consensuses, privacy measures, as well as written in different coding languages.

Among the remaining areas for development, Deloitte listed the necessity to reduce both costs and complexity of network operations, the importance of innovation-supporting regulation, as well as the crucial role of collaboration between blockchain-related firms.

In terms of costs and complexity of the emerging technology, Deloitte referred to major technology giants such as Amazon, IBM, and Microsoft that have reportedly delivered less complicated implementations of blockchain by using cloud technology, as well as contributed to improving the costs of operations on blockchain.

Among the most complex issues around blockchain regulation, the company highlighted the difficulty of regulating smart contracts, which do not necessarily fit into existing frameworks.

The report’s final point stresses the importance of cooperation between blockchain-related firms in order to push forward the new deployments of the technology, as well as to provide better education in the sphere. The company says the increasing number of blockchain consortia, such as R3, is a “bullish sign,” because the “value of a blockchain network increases with the number of users.”

Last month, Cointelegraph published an interview with Jeremy Gardner, founder of Blockchain Education Network and co-founder of blockchain prediction platform Augur. In the interview, the industry expert claimed that in order to achieve mass adoption, those developing in the industry must “include the people who have the most benefit” from blockchain technology – namely the world’s disenfranchised – commenting that “we haven’t done a great job doing that, yet.”

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