Blockchain and Bitcoin round-up: 1 December 2017
Quickly following on from yesterday’s (30 November) blockchain and Bitcoin round-up, here’s more action. Features money laundering in Japan; Coinsource ATMs in Georgia; Cardano Foundation, IOHK and Emurgo teaming up; and PwC in Hong Kong.
Over in Japan, Kyodo and Jiji news sites have reported 170 cases of suspected money laundering linked to cryptocurrencies were reported by currency exchange operators in Japan in the six months through to 1 October 2017. Not a great advert, is it? The sites say the first such report by Japan’s National Police Agency (NPA) was conducted after the law on prevention of transfer of criminal proceeds was revised in April, requiring cryptocurrency exchange operators to report transactions suspected to be involved in money laundering.
In Japan, 11 cryptocurrency exchange operators are registered based on the law on payment services. The number of users is expected to rise if these cryptocurrencies attract more attention. “We want to take countermeasures by collaborating with relevant ministries and agencies as well as business operators,” an NPA official says. Good to see dull quotes are available all over the world.
Coinsource deploys 20 new Bitcoin ATMs in Georgia
Onto happier news. Bitcoin ATM network Coinsource has deployed 20 new machines in the southern US state of Georgia. 18 of the ATMs have been installed in the city of Atlanta, and two machines in the nearby college town of Athens. Coinsource is also rolling out an online enrolment system today, that allows new customers to sign up before they even visit a machine.
Coinsource says its total Bitcoin ATM machine count is now 136. They are operational in 12 states; California, Oklahoma, Nevada, Texas, Louisiana, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Arizona and now Georgia. 16 of the new machines in Greater Atlanta area are buying only, while four have both buy and sell functionality.
Cardano Foundation, IOHK and Emurgo, the three partners behind blockchain Cardano, have revealed that Ada, Cardano’s cryptocurrency, will be tradable on Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange with a market share across Asia.
The Ada listing on Binance is supported by Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) pairings and is available for trading immediately. The listing follows the recent launch of Ada, on US exchange, Bittrex in October 2017 and will be followed by other unnamed exchanges, both international and regional in the coming months.
Also in Asia, PwC in Hong Kong says it has for the first time accepted payment in Bitcoin for its advisory services. As the firm works “increasingly with companies in the digital asset and crypto-currency space, it believes that accepting such payments will evolve into an element of doing business in the normal course”.
PwC in Hong Kong’s services include advice in areas such as token sales, crypto exchanges and the launch of crypto funds. Andrew Watkins, chief technology and disruption officer, PwC China and Hong Kong, says “it’s still relatively early days for this technology”. PwC didn’t name the client, so I guess it’s still early days for being transparent in the Bitcoin world.
