Regulatory tightening as multiple Central Banks accelerate research on Digital Money, while Blockchain applications continue to expand.

Regulatory Dynamics

The financial regulatory authorities in Beijing have issued a risk warning, alerting to the risks of investing in virtual currencies. The warning points out that there are signs of a resurgence in virtual currency trading activities, which seriously violate relevant regulations. It requires institutions and personnel in Beijing not to engage in virtual currency-related business, and financial institutions are prohibited from providing services for virtual currency trading.

The Ganzi Prefecture in Sichuan convened a meeting with Bitmain and 10 other companies to discuss the cleanup of Bitcoin mining sites. The meeting affirmed the utilization of surplus electricity by Bitcoin mining sites but required companies to comply with regulations and refrain from engaging in illegal activities such as ICOs.

The Bank of Korea will establish a special task force to study central bank digital currency in order to enhance understanding of crypto assets. The European Central Bank has released a proof of concept report for the distributed ledger project EUROchain based on the R3 Corda platform.

Germany will require digital asset custodians to apply for licenses. The French Financial Markets Authority has issued new regulations for digital asset service provider licenses. The U.S. Committee on Fake Financial Reporting plans to release blockchain security guidelines next year.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate detailed ten types of illegal crimes involving blockchain, including the theft of digital currencies and the illegal establishment of exchanges, and proposed seven preventive suggestions.

Industry News

In the past two months, at least 12 cryptocurrency exchanges have ceased operations or are under investigation, including CoinTiger, Biger, Bithumb Global, and others. The regulatory pressure continues.

Shenzhen Stock Exchange compiled the Shenzhen Blockchain 50 Index, which rose 1.15% on its first day. The index selects 50 stocks from companies listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange that are involved in the blockchain industry.

Youtube deleted videos from multiple prominent figures in the cryptocurrency industry, categorizing the related content as "harmful information." This has sparked industry attention and controversy.

Tencent has established an internal research project group for digital currency, which will study policies and application scenarios related to digital currency. Baidu Research Institute predicts that blockchain will integrate into more application scenarios in 2020.

The first national "Blockchain Technology Competency Test ( Level 1 )" was held in Shanghai. 14 insurance companies announced their participation in the insurance risk control blockchain platform.

Investment and Financing Progress

Last week, there were 8 financing rounds announced in the blockchain sector, with a total amount exceeding 11.6 million USD, covering multiple fields such as financial services, exchanges, and public chains. The main ones include:

• Cryptocurrency broker BitOoda completes $7 million seed round funding
• Venture capital fund Dragonfly invests in the public blockchain Nervos
• Yunxiang secured hundreds of millions in A++ round financing
• Maskbook development company Dimension receives strategic investment from HashKey Capital
• FansChain (FANS) received hundreds of millions in strategic investment.
• Huobi Japan secures $4.6 million strategic investment
• BigONE announces the completion of its acquisition of BaseFEX exchange.