Image of The Week, 24-28 of September: Reuters, Bloomberg, Financial Times and Others
We're presenting “image of the week”. Bitnewstoday.com has chosen only the most important news about the digital economy and virtual currencies. Only the most valuable stories from only the trusted sources. Each and every event from this list will change the world of the digital economy either way. The most important stories in the most indicative quotes are below!
24 of September
KEEP ON TRYING (Wall Street Journal)
Bitcoin ETFs keep trying, despite of regulators’ rejections
Bitcoin enthusiasts trying to launch funds that would bring the cryptocurrency to small investors have been rebuffed at least 10 times by Wall Street’s top regulator.
That hasn’t stopped them. There’s at least one application for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund still pending with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and more are planned, like one from cryptocurrency asset manager Bitwise Asset Management.
BLOCKCHAIN AND GREATER GOOD (Financial Times)
Humanitarian groups keep an eye on blockchain
Blockchain is the newest technology being trialled by the WFP and is invisible to the naked eye. It keeps a record of how much food Mr Alomari has collected, and how much vendors are owed. In an emailed comment sent to the FT via the WFP, Mr Alomari describes the system as “easy” to use, and “safer” than coupons or electronic cards that might get lost or misplaced. “Our pilot is the largest implementation of blockchain technology for humanitarian aid in the world,” says Houman Haddad, the WFP’s head of emerging technology.
The aid agency piloted its Building Blocks programme with 100 people in Pakistan last year. This was expanded, first to 10,000 people, then 100,000, in Jordan.
25 of September
ROYAL AMNESTY (Daily Hodl)
Ad giant Google is lifting sweeping crypto ban
Tech giant Google is reversing the sweeping ad ban it imposed on the crypto space in June. Starting in October, it will allow regulated crypto exchanges to advertise in the US and Japan. According to the announcement, “Advertisers will need to be certified with Google for the specific country in which their ads will serve. Advertisers will be able to apply for certification once the policy launches in October.”
Google banned crypto advertisements in June in order to protect consumers from scams, particularly fraudulent initial coin offerings (ICOs). The wide-ranging ban included offerings from trading professionals and wallet services.
AND HUGE LEAP FOR THE BITCOIN (Forbes)
Another huge leap towards mainstream acceptance
Bitcoin has been taking giant strides towards mainstream acceptance over the last couple of years, boosted by its bull run last year that made Bitcoin and cryptocurrency household terms — and now Bitcoin has been given a badge of approval reserved for only the most important new technologies.
Bitcoin has been added to the Merriam-Webster Scrabble dictionary, many people's go-to source for Scrabble approval (though official Scrabble tournaments use a different list that includes offensive words as well as words up to 15 letters long).
26 of September
CHINESE BOOST (Reuters)
China to boost $3.8 trillion digital economy, Xi calls for self-reliance
China on Wednesday pledged to expand its $3.8 trillion digital economy and create jobs in new sectors such as big data and artificial intelligence (AI) as the world’s second-biggest economy looks to shift away from a reliance on polluting heavy industries.
China will make further inroads in its digital economy including the internet of things, big data, clouding computing and AI, the NDRC said on Wednesday.Those sectors will become new drivers of job creation by 2025, the state planner said. China should embark on a path of self-reliance with the rise of unilateralism and trade protectionism, state-controlled People’s Daily quoted President Xi Jinping as saying on Wednesday as he conducted an inspection tour of factories in the rustbelt province of Heilongjiang.
PHARMACHAIN (Bloomberg)
Blockchain hype may finally turn into reality in pharmaceuticals
Blockchain believers have delivered little more than hype, mostly failing to get it deployed outside the cryptocurrency space where the technology was developed. But a little-noticed U.S. law could change that, bringing the ledger system to the pharmaceutical business.
By 2020, pharmacies and hospitals must be able to verify that the drugs they’re dispensing came from manufacturers or repackagers, which divvy up huge batches of pharmaceuticals into the actual bottles that get distributed in pharmacies or hospitals. While pharma giants are still evaluating how to comply, health-care analysts says the impeding deadline is leading firms to seriously consider the blockchain, since it’s designed to create detailed and immutable databases.
27 of September
BAD TIMING (CNN)
Bitmain IPO came at a really bad time
Three of the world's top makers of cryptocurrency technology are planning to sell shares, giving investors a new way to bet on digital currencies. They're reportedly hoping to raise billions of dollars. The mining technology companies haven't said when exactly they plan to go public or how much they're seeking to raise. Bitmain and Canaan declined interview requests, while Ebang didn't respond to a request.
"These firms might be looking to cash out before the market takes an even steeper nosedive," said Benjamin Quinlan, founder of Hong Kong-based financial services consulting firm Quinlan & Associates.
DANGER OF KNOWLEDGE (The Next Web)
Coinbase thinks it can make investing in cryptocurrency even easier
This might sound like a dream come true for cryptocurrency advocates, but there are a few things newbies ought to consider. Coinbase has announced today that it is adding three new services to its platform: Coinbase Bundles, asset pages, and Coinbase Learn. The aim of these is to help cryptocurrency newcomers get some skin in the game without breaking too much of a sweat.
One thing to keep in mind is that – despite the good intentions behind these new pages – the goal here is to make it easier for customers to feel comfortable about buying and trading cryptocurrency. So you might want to seek beyond the information Coinbase has made available.
28 of September
AUSTRIAN ROLE IN EUROPE (The Daily Hodl)
Blockchain pioneers in Europe
Austria will raise a total 1.15 billion euros in a federal bond auction on Oct. 2 using blockchain notarization, according to Oesterreichische Kontrollbank (OeKB), which oversees the auctions for issuing federal bonds as a neutral capital market participant for the Austrian Federal Financing Agency (OeBFA). The auction demonstrates Austria’s pioneering role in Europe for deploying blockchain technology for sovereign bond issues, according to the notice posted on the Finance Ministry website.
“The digitization of the financial sector, also known as fintech, has long arrived in Austria,” Finance Minister Hartwig Loger said in a prepared statement. “We need to use the positive effects intelligently for the financial services sector. Blockchain technology is an economic policy focus for us. With the establishment of the FinTech Advisory Council in the Ministry of Finance, we are developing strategies to help Austria make the best possible use of these developments”.
REPEAT PLEASE (CNBC)
Congress members ask SEC chairman for clarity on cryptocurrency regulation
Calls for more clarity on cryptocurrency regulation are now coming from Congress, not just bitcoin fanatics.More than a dozen members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to Securities and Exchange Chairman Jay Clayton Friday urging his agency to tell investors, in plain English, how it plans to regulate cryptocurrency.
"It is important that all policy makers work toward developing clearer guidelines between those digital tokens that are securities, and those that are not, through better articulation of SEC policy, and, ultimately, through formal guidance or legislation," the letter said.