Ateneo accompanied by AMBERLab, seeks to have blockchain-related electives by the first quarter of 2019.

“With the Blockchain coming in as a major technology wave, AMBERLab is poised to be a major in the local effort, and we would like to offer our assistance by funding such project, just as the NEM Foundation did in Malaysia”

Emerson Fonseca said, Head, NEM Philippines.

Image via Newsbytes

This is the news that was put listed by the Asia Blockchain and Crypto Association. They are also known as ABACA.

Everything You Need To Know About The Crypto Regulation

This new regulation by Philippines' Cagayan Economic Zone Authority; prominently called CEZA has been drafted for diverse reasons. It will regulate the crypto industry and secure investors.

This regulation will affect problems such as crypto asset acquisition, utility token, and security tokens. The utility tokens offer its holders easy future access to either products or services provided through the company.

For the security tokens, they are supported by real time assets like equity and shares of a company. They are utilized in paying dividends, interests or investing in some other tokens.

This implies that CEZA will be transformed as the primary regulator. For ABACA, it has been nominated as the SRO.

This means it is a Self-Regulatory Organization. Its job consists of enforcing this new framework. Due to this release, every DATOs are expected to have adequate offering records.

This record will have in-depth details of both the issue and the project. They should also have accompanied advice and expert certifications. This SRO model will not only promote but also secure every interest of crypto investors.

Also, the tokens will have to be filed on the licensed OVCE. The OVCE is none other than the Offshore Virtual Currency Exchange. The set rules are actually split into three tiers. They include;

Tier One

This tier comprises of assets and investments that do not exceed $5 million made in the computerized tokens.

This tier basically covers a $6million to $10million range.

The various stakeholders are expected to have an affirmed arrangement. This arrangement will be executed with authorized wallet providers and the custodians. CEZA has also added to the set of rules.

CEZA stated that the partnership with financial technology industries and some of the establishment players would aid the government. They will help them attain in-depth knowledge and be updated with technology on the upcoming markets.

The set rules will stay rigid as it assesses not only the conducts but also the integrity of the companies interested in debuting DATOs. It is worth to note that CEZA has accepted and even circulated temporary principal OVCE. However, this release made does not make mention of ICOs.

ICO is an abbreviation for Initial Coin Offering. As mentioned above, the regulation does not mention anything on ICO.

PSEC, an abbreviation for Philippines Security and Exchange Commission has been talking about ICO for some time. PSEC also released some draft rules for governing ICOs back in August 2018.

According to the agency, companies registered in the country that are making plans to operate an ICO must, first of all, submit an initial assessment request.

It does not matter if their token will be a security token or not. The addressing request must be submitted to the commission.

Wrapping It Up

It should be noted that CEZA has issued the offshore virtual currency exchange to a total number of nineteen companies. And, these companies are also connected to the Blockchain industry and its general ecosystem.

The collaboration will allow more than five million Coins.ph users to receive and hold international money transfers using Western Union's digital network in more than 60 countries, retail network in more 200 countries and its territories into their Coins.ph wallets.  

To use the service offered by both company and to comply with the regulations set by the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas, consumers are required to register for Coins.ph and should fulfill the Know-Your-Customer verification process. After successful verification, user's can conveniently receive Western Union money transfers into their Coins.ph wallets by simply clicking the "Receive" button, choose "Receive WU transfer," fill the required information and inputting the Western Union unique tracking number (MTCN) and expected amount.

Users can receive up to a maximum of Coins.ph wallet capacity of Php 100, 000 per month (approximately USD 1, 919 as of the current value of PHP to USD).

According to the Philstar, the Philippines represent the 3rd top remittance receiving country in the world, with over $33 billion (PHP 1.72 trillion) remittance in inflows. 

The release reads that over five million Filipinos hold Coins.ph wallet, while Western Union has been providing money transfer services in the country since 1990 and holds more than 12,000 agent locations in the country.

Running a full bitcoin network does not mean mining bitcoin.  Phil Chen, the chief decentralized officer at HTC said.

This smartphone also has a built-in hardware wallet to help its users stored their cryptocurrency assets securely. It appears with 4 GB of RAM and 63 GB of storage and runs on Android Oreo 8.1. This allows its users to install a 400+GB SD card to expand its storage allowing it to cope with the increasing data of the full bitcoin ledger, the bitcoin blockchain. The current size of the full ledger is closing on 250 GB, according to Blockchain chart block size. 

“Full nodes are the most important ingredient in the resilience of the Bitcoin network and we have lowered the barrier to entry for any person to run a node,” Chen added.

The smartphone will be available for users in Europe, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE initially, while other regions such as Taiwan, Switzerland, and Germany will be launched at a later date while it's currently not prepared for sale in the U.S.

Mentioning its price is about $244 (€219) which is lower than the price of HTC's flagship the HTC EXODUS 1. 

Featured image via Theusbport.com

Xi made the speech in the 18th collective study of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. And stressed out that the blockchain as an important breakthrough for independent innovation of core technologies.

Xi Jinping pointed out that it is necessary to embrace the opportunity of integrating blockchain technology, function expansion, and industry segmentation, and play the role of blockchain. 

The CPC leader emphasized that it is necessary to strengthen the guidance and regulation of blockchain technology in the country, establish the research and analysis of blockchain security risks.

"It is necessary to strengthen basic research, enhance the original innovation ability, and strive to let China take the leading position in the emerging field of blockchain, occupy the commanding heights of innovation, and gain new industrial advantages" Xi said.

Despite banning Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in the country, China's central bank has been researching and developing its own digital currency and higher chance it would be called as their national digital currency and ready to launch it in the near future. 

Featured image via ABS-CBN

The Binance Edition EXODUS 1 allows its users to experience the speed and usability of a smartphone with the full security of a cryptocurrency hardware wallet. This new smartphone will be on sale soon at 599 USD. 

Binance edition EXODUS 1 smartphone is the world’s first blockchain smartphone to integrate the Binance Chain blockchain and support its native support for Binance DEX, allowing users to trade on the decentralized exchange on the go.

Now, users will have access to its cryptocurrency assets in their very own pocket.

Smartphones will play a key role in the mass adoption of crypto and smartphones are the most natural devices for a hardware wallet that is simple to use and always with you,” said CZ (Changpeng Zhao), CEO of Binance.

The phone will be sold at $599 or the equal value in cryptocurrencies. which is quite steep. It is reasonably priced though since it will have 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, dust-resistant, waterproof, 3500 mAh, 4K video with 112MP+16MP dual main camera and Snapdragon 845.