The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has expanded its crackdown on Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), putting “hundreds” of projects at risk, according to a recent joint investigation by Yahoo Finance and Decrypt Media published, Oct. 10.

The authors of the report stressed that hundreds of crypto and blockchain startups that conducted token sales have eventually found that they had violated securities laws despite their endeavors to comply with regulations. In response to SEC pressure, dozens of firms have reportedly “quietly agreed” to refund investors’ money and pay fines, rather than attempt to reach a legal compliance.

According to Yahoo and Decrypt’s conversations with more than 15 industry sources, many startups that were subpoenaed by the SEC did not know how to satisfy the commission’s demands, and were unable to consult with other firms on how to handle the matter.

The sources — who are represented by employees of subpoenaed companies or their attorneys — preferred to stay anonymous due to an SEC restriction from disclosing the issue.

An anonymous securities attorney at a high-profile Silicon Valley firm told Yahoo and Decrypt that while “everybody’s holding their breath,” waiting for new rules, the SEC is not going to provide them. According to the anonymous attorney, while dealing with the recently emerged industry, the SEC still applies the “same laws, the same statutes, the same rules, to stocks and bonds and everything else.”

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, there has been a “cascade of uncertainty,” associated with the existing ICO token classification, which only further complicates the development of desperately needed regulations for ICOs.

Readmore: https://cointelegraph.com/news/report-sec-expands-crackdown-on-icos-regulatory-ambiguity-remains

South Korean government is “likely” to announce its official position on Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) in November. A local business newspaper The Investor reported this on Thursday, Oct. 11, citing a “top official,” Hong Nam-ki.

As per the chief of the office for Government Policy Coordination Hong Nam-ki, South Korean officials have already held several discussions on ICOs. As soon as the results are in, the government will finalize and reveal its official stance, he said.

South Korea first banned ICOs back in September 2017, saying that the practice of raising funds via the issuance of cryptocurrency tokens was almost “a gamble.”

According to The Investor, Hong Nam-Ki has revealed that the government has held a survey, because some companies are still trying to conduct ICOs despite a country-wide ban. The results of the poll are expected to be ready by late October, the official has said.

Korea’s government considered reallowing ICOs in August 2018, amid plans to create its own “blockchain island” based in Jeju Island Resort. Back then, the South Korean National Assembly, along with the Ministry of Science and Information and Communications Technology discussed the potential legal framework for ICOs and possible investor protection measures.

As reported by Cointelegraph, South Korea has recently launched a six-month youth training programme that includes courses on blockchain and other technologies. The announcement came after the news of the government’s plans to invest $4.4 billion in a number of areas of the domestic economy, including blockchain.

Readmore: https://cointelegraph.com/news/report-harvard-stanford-mit-endowments-all-invest-in-crypto-funds

European airline holding company Air France-KLM has partnered with blockchain travel ecosystem Winding Tree. The goal of the partnership is to reduce costs for the company’s customers by cutting out intermediaries.

The alliance has revealed the new deal in a release published on its official website Thursday, Oct. 4.

The world's fifth largest air company by revenue in 2018, Air France-KLM hopes blockchain will help it provide "a more advantageous travel offer for customers which is more profitable for suppliers, in particular by reducing the number of intermediaries."

Sonia Barriere, the executive vice president for Strategy and Innovation at Air France-KLM, thinks that blockchain will "revolutionise exchanges within the travel industry" both for customers and companies.

With the new deal, Air France-KLM joins the ranks of other airlines that have previously partnered with Winding Tree.

As Cointelegraph reported earlier, the company already has contracts with Lufthansa, Swiss Air, Air New Zealand, Austrian and Brussels Airlines, and Eurowings. In addition to that, the open-source travel platform also works with one of the biggest hotel chains in Scandinavia and Baltic Region, Nordic Choice Hotels.

Readmore: https://cointelegraph.com/news/worlds-fifth-largest-airline-firm-explores-blockchain-to-cut-costs-for-customers

Though Bitcoin Cash has held the 50-day SMA for the past two days, the bulls have failed to secure a bounce. This shows that buying has dried up and if the support of the moving averages breaks, the digital currency can retest the recent lows.


The BCH/USD pair will indicate a change in trend if it breaks out of $600. The key levels to watch on the upside are $660.0753 and $880.

As the price has been sustaining above the descending channel and the moving averages for the past four days, we suggest traders hold their long position with the stops at $400.

Source

Ethereum has been trading close to the 20-day EMA for the past seven days. Both moving averages have turned flat and the RSI has also been hovering around the midpoint. This shows a consolidation in the range of $200–$250.

A break out of the overhead resistance of $250 and the 50-day SMA will tilt the balance in favor of the bulls. Above $250, the ETH/USD pair might rally to $300–$322.57.

The key support to watch on the downside is the zone of $192–$200. If the bears sink the pair below this support, a retest of the lows is likely. We should get a decisive move in either direction this week.

Source

Chinese cryptocurrency exchange Huobi has responded to mounting 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 (ongoing) and therefore, we seek your patience and co-operation in this matter.”

Readmore: https://cointelegraph.com/news/huobi-on-alleged-eos-mutual-voting-scandal-no-financial-contracts-involved

The Prime Minister of Malta, Joseph Muscat, has said that cryptocurrencies are the “inevitable future of money,” and that blockchain can galvanize a more transparent and equitable society. The Prime Minister made his remarks in a speech addressed to the general debate of the 73rd Session of the General Assembly of the U.N. September 27.

Muscat made a spirited case for the transformative, political impact of bleeding-edge technologies, saying that those who “pair the new digital economy with a new state – a digital state,” will be best poised “to create a future-proof society”:

The Prime Minister argued that distributed ledger technologies (DLT) – of which blockchain is one type – will transform the gamut of political, civic, and corporate systems. Their potential to solve “decades-old problems” was the impetus for Malta to “launch itself as a ‘Blockchain Island,’” he said, claiming the island was “the first jurisdiction worldwide to regulate [the] technology,” prising it out of a “legal vacuum.”

Malta’s Prime Minister proposed that DLT can ensure “that no one is deprived of their legitimate property because of compromised data,” that corporations “become more accountable to their shareholders,” and that states “move from hoarding information on their citizens to regulating an environment where citizens trust the handling of their own data.”

In healthcare, DLT would mean that  patients have “real ownership of their medical records,” he said, and make administration more robust and efficient, with wide-reaching consequences – a blockchain system could, for example, “verify that humanitarian assistance is reaching its intended destination.”

The Prime Minister nonetheless recognized the resistance that such new technologies may encounter, noting that:

Readmore: https://cointelegraph.com/news/maltas-prime-minister-tells-un-that-crypto-is-the-inevitable-future-of-money

Ang Austrame ng Fuluts Trading ng Austrame ng Fordure ng Austrato na ito ay nag-file ng isang suit para sa dalawang di-maliwanag na pakikibakang-puri ng Bitcoin (BTC), ayon sa isang rekord ng CTFC na ito na isinampa sa U.S. District Court para sa Northern District Court para sa Northern District of Texas - Nag-charge ang dalawang mga mapanlinlang na negosyo at nakaliligaw sa publiko na Kinukuha sa Pampublikong Katalogo:

Source