Your Crypto News on Steemit February 8, 2018

Forbes publishes List of the richest People in the Cryptocurrency World!
Singapore will not ban Cryptocurrencies: No Risk Concerns!
SEC and CFTC gave Testimonies at Senate Hearing on Cryptocurrencies and ICOs!
Singapore Airlines develops Blockchain-based App!
Canada, the Blockchain Role Model Country!
One of the most powerful Institutions in the Financial World declares War on Bitcoin!

The US business magazine Forbes, which since 1987 has selected The World's Billionaires, the richest person in the world, yesterday published an article online listing the known and (probably) the richest people in the cryptocurrency universe.

The list of the richest people in the cryptocurrency universe was first published by Forbes magazine and based on estimated numbers. Values are (again) estimated cryptocurrency holdings, post-tax profits from cryptocurrency trading and holdings in crypto-related businesses.

The estimates were calculated as of the January 19, 2018 deadline, so due to the high volatility of cryptocurrencies, the values are already obsolete. Nevertheless, from our point of view, the list provides a good overview of the largest influencers, in terms of capital, for the cryptocurrency market.

For connoisseurs of the industry, the list includes many big and well-known names from the crypto world. From our point of view, the names can be divided into four groups: founders and developers of cryptocurrencies, investors, heads of popular crypto currency exchanges and players in the crypto business sector. It is striking that it does not create a woman in the list. The average age, according to Forbes, is 42 years, which is much lower than the "The World's Billionaires" list with an average age of 67 years.

The most famous founders and developers from the list are Vitalik Buterin and Joseph Lubin (Ethereum), Chris Larsen (Ripple) and Dan Larimer (Steem, EOS andBitshares). The most famous investors in the list are the Winklevoss twins, who received $ 65 million through an intellectual property lawsuit against Facebook founder and former fellow student Mark Zuckerberg.

Allegedly, they are said to have bought 91,666 Bitcoins for around $ 120 each. Furthermore, the list includes the founders and CEOs of the popular cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase (Brian Armstrong) and Binance (Changpeng Zhao).

Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen is at the top of the list, with an estimated $ 8 billion in assets. If the Ripple price had not fallen so much in recent weeks, Larsen could even have a fortune of about $ 59.9 billion with his 17 percent stake in RippleLabs, according to Forbes. He would have overtaken even Mark Zuckerberg with his about 55 billion US dollars.

I'm sure. The one or the other anonymous investor certainly does not appear in the list. If Satoshi Nakamoto actually exists, he certainly would be a candidate for the top 10. Still, in the following we find the very interesting, complete list of known cryptocurrency billionaires and millionaires, according to Forbes magazine (in US dollars):

 Chris Larsen co-founder of Ripple 7.5 to 8 billion

 Joseph Lubin co-founder of Ethereum 1 to 5 billion

 Changpeng Zhao CEO of Binance 2 billion

 Cameron & Tyler Winklevoss investors 900 million to 1.1 billion

 Matthew Mellon Investor 900 million to 1 billion

 Brian Armstrong CEO of Coinbase 900 million to 1 billion

 Matthew Roszak Co-founder of Bloq 900 million to 1 billion

Anthony Di Iorio Co-founder of Ethereum $ 750 million to $ 1 billion

Brock Pierce Chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation 700 million to 1 billion

Michael Novogratz CEO of Galaxy Digital 700 million to 1 billion

Brendan Blumer CEO of Block.one 600 to 700 million

 Dan Larimer CTO and co-founder of Block.one 600 to 700 million

 Valery Vavilov CEO of Bitfury 500 to 700 million

 Charles Hopkinson co-founder of Ethereum 500 to 600 million

 Brad Garlinghouse CEO of Ripple 400-500 million

 Barry Silver CEO of Digital Currency Group 400-500 million

Vitalik Buterin Co-founder of Ethereum 400 to 500 million

Tim Draper Founder of Draper Associates 350 to 500 million

 Song Chi-hyung CEO of Dunamu Inc 350 to 500 million

The Singapore government has stated that it does not consider it necessary to prohibit cryptocurrency trading. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), said in a written response to MEPs yesterday that cryptocurrencies and related trading activities currently pose no threat to Singapore's financial system.

Trading with cryptocurrencies is alright

He explained that the MAS "has carefully studied these developments and the potential risks they pose. There is currently no good reason to ban cryptocurrencies trading."

The comments came before a parliamentary meeting on February 5 as a direct response to lawmakers Saktiandi Supaat, Lim Biow Chuan and Cheng Li Hui, who questioned the Prime Minister about the possibility of banning the cryptocurrency in Singapore, according to an order paper.

The vice premier wrote:

Therefore, Shanmugaratnam said regulators "have no major systemic worries about cryptocurrencies".

The comment is also in line with a report from October 2017, in which Ravi Menon, managing director of MAS, stated that the central bank would not regulate crypto currencies.

However, Shanmugaratnam said in his written response that the institution is aware of the potential use of cryptocurrency in illegal activities such as money laundering and takes appropriate action to address the problem.

The MAS will introduce anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism funding (AML / CFT) to intermediaries who buy, sell or exchange cryptocurrencies, he added: "We set out this AML / CFT regulatory framework for virtual currency brokers last year.

On February 6, the US Senate Banking and Finance Committee, held a hearing on cryptocurrency, ICOs, and market regulation. The speakers were Jay Clayton, Chairman of the SEC, and Christopher Giancarlo, Chairman of the CFTC. Overall, the outcome to which the two officials came can be seen as reassuring for the crypto community.

Hearings of representatives from business, society and administration are not uncommon in democratic systems. It is not so much a rapport, in which the person charged has to answer for his actions, but rather the solicitation of expert opinions to stimulate legislative initiatives. There are these hearings both in smaller parliamentary rounds as well as in committees in the Bundestag or other parliaments. The same thing happened yesterday when Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) Chairman Jay Clayton and his Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) member Christopher Giancarlo stepped in front of the Senate Banking Committee.

For about an hour and a half, representatives of the two major regulators spoke to representatives of the Congress on cryptocurrencies, ICOs, and the desire for orderly regulation. Both men took a similar approach to finding a regulatory approach that would help the crypto-ecosystem as a whole rather than deprive it of its strengths.

SEC Chairman Clayton once again underlined an authority's view that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, despite the term currency they carry on their behalf, can not be considered equivalent to Fiat currencies, but should be considered securities in current usage. Thus, according to SEC interpretation, cryptocurrencies are a new asset class that should be regulated similarly to the traditional financial market. In general, connecting elements, such as the Bitcoin futures launched in December of last year, are a welcome instrument for gaining regulatory control.

"We owe it to the new generation to respond to their enthusiasm for virtual currencies not with devaluation, but with a thoughtful and deliberate response," said Christopher Giancarlo, whose own children had come into contact with the concept of financial markets via cryptocurrencies. Like his children, millions of young people worldwide are doing what makes cryptocurrencies a kind of entry into the global financial world. One must build on this movement, but at the same time also prevent the newly formed trust from being exploited by fraudsters and dubious projects. Specifically, the explosion of new ICOs is both the SEC and the CFTC to think.

The bottom line is therefore no new groundbreaking insight. SEC and CFTC want more legislative power to steer developments in the crypto market in the right direction. However, both also acknowledge that total control is neither in their mind nor within their means. Rather, it is important to create in the general population a better awareness of crypto investments and the underlying blockchain technology - it is to be hoped that this has succeeded, at least for the present senators.

After some airlines have previously accepted cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, Singapore Airlines will launch a blockchain-based frequent flyer app.

Singapore Airlines announced in a press release that it is currently working on a blockchain-based app to be used for the KrisFlyer frequent flyer program. The app should be completed by mid-August of 2018.

The KrisFlyer Digital Wallet App will allow members of the frequent flyer program to conduct transactions using the app at retailers at the airport. The loyalty points can be used, for example, for payment in a café or for the purchase of goods.

This digital wallet uses blockchain technology and connects all participating dealers with the members of the KrisFlyer program. A team of experts consisting of Microsoft, KMPG Digital Village and developers of Singapore Airlines work together.

The CEO of Singapore Airlines made it clear in a public interview how important the advancing digitization is for their own company:

This means that another company has recognized the opportunities offered by blockchain technology and will use this as an advantage for further development.

On January 24, 2018, Brisbane Airport put into operation the first "crypto-terminal" that accepts cryptocurrencies as payment. According to the official announcement of the airport, it should be possible in the near future to pay with Bitcoin, Dash, Ethereum and other digital currencies via the used payment system "TravelbyBit's" (already used in a pilot version at the terminal).

It should not only be able to pay for airline tickets, but also in restaurants and other shops this should become the new standard. The cooperation with the tech start-up TravelbyBit is only the beginning to spread the technology of cryptocurrencies in the tourism industry.

Canada is becoming a blockchain nation. The government makes transparent the allocation of state funds through the Ethereum blockchain and participates in a program to improve the identity of aviation passengers using blockchain technology. Meanwhile, one of the largest pension funds in the country has set up a subsidiary to specifically invest in Ethereum.

Canada is increasingly becoming a promised country for the crypto and blockchain scene. The home of Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin is currently attracting not only the miners in droves, but also demonstrates that a government with open eyes can even jump on the blockchain train. And with several projects.

Bring the state finances on blockchain!

For one thing, Canada has started a program that uses blockchain in the most meaningful way possible for the government's work: The National Research Council makes the allocation of funding through the Ethereum blockchain more transparent. For anyone interested in Open Government, the Canadian Research Council's project should be highly charged.

Together with the Startup Bitaccess, the agency stores and updates the agreements for the allocation of funds on the Ethereum blockchain. For this purpose, a smart contract was formed on the Ethereum blockchain, which keeps an internal list of funding grants, in which it enters which totals went to which organization. When the council allocates funds, it sends a corresponding transaction to the smart contract, which then enters the new data into the internal list. In this way, anyone at blockchain can see what projects the Council is supporting, and also check that these data have remained authentic.

The list of the projects documented so far on the blockchain can be found here. You can admire the Smart Contract on Etherscan.io. Of course, such a project is just the beginning. In the long term, it is conceivable that governments will document all revenues and expenses via smart contracts and also make the financial transaction through dollar tokens absolutely transparent. The blockchain could eradicate almost all state corruption, for example, by documenting the tax revenues and their distribution to the government organs on the blockchain.

The project of the Canadian National Research Council is a small but important step in this direction.

Better identity control of air travelers

The North American country also hopes to improve the identity verification of airline passengers through blockchain technology. To this end, it has joined a program in which the World Economic Forum (WEF), the consulting firm Accenture and the Government of the Netherlands work.

According to the paper published by the WEF, the "Known Traveler Digital Identity" project should "radically transform the way in which the legitimization of travelers to borders is done safely and smoothly, and breathe life into the idea of digital borders." The envisaged identification of the Travelers on the blockchain should have several advantages: First, it will allow governments "to conduct risk assessments and security procedures with industry and travelers prior to the security review, reducing border crossing privileges."

Second, it will streamline operations by providing "specific information (such as on biometrics, biography or travel history) to government or private sector actors, such as border crossers, car rental companies, hotels and airlines, to assess risks in advance and verify the identity. "

Third, it should strengthen individuals' control over their data, as travelers can choose what information they share at what times. So you can modularize the information about your own identity and only single parts out instead of the whole package. This could help prevent identity theft.

How exactly the project should use the blockchain, is not said. Neither, whether it's going to be a private blockchain or one of the public blockchains like Ethereum. Unfortunately, this does not emerge from the many great words and great diagrams of the paper, which unmistakably carries the handwriting of a consulting firm.

Therefore, it is better to switch to the third message, which is perhaps the most exciting.

A pension fund wants to become the central hub of Ethereum

One of Canada's largest pension funds, OMERS (Ontaria Munucipial Employees Retirement System), has recently formed a subsidiary focused on Ethereum. The company, Ethereum Capital, plans to invest $ 50 million in the Ethereum ecosystem. The 50 million are to be obtained from investors who can buy 20 million shares at a price of 2.50 Canada dollars each.

John Ruffolo, director of OMERS investment department said:

Ethereum is "one of the fundamental building blocks" of the blockchain economy. Ethereum Capital will invest both in companies that work with Ethereum and in the currency of ethers themselves. However, this is not speculation in a currency, says Ruffolo, but in "the companies that grow on the Ethereum platform." Thus, ether acts much like a kind of index that represents the value of all Ethereum companies.

Ethereum Capital, according to one of its partners, Som Seif, is now to become "the core business hub of the Ethereum Network." That Ontaria public servants 'and civil servants' pension fund will take this step while the Ethereum rate is rapidly dwindling courageous. But maybe - hopefully - also looking ahead.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) calls for stricter measures against digital currencies such as Bitcoin. Bank experts refer to cryptocurrencies as a "threat to financial stability."

"Central banks must be prepared to intervene if necessary" in order to prevent a threat to financial stability, said BIS Director General Agustín Carstens in Frankfurt.

Agustín Carstens said in his speech:

He also emphasized that "private digital tokens that disguise themselves as currencies" should not undermine this trust. Therefore, central banks could not allow cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin to use the same institutional infrastructure of the financial system. This would give them signs of credibility.

Carstens went on to say that the task of central banks starts at this point, because it has to "provide credible money." They would have to make sure that the connections of cryptocurrencies to real currencies would not be parasitic. In addition, the principle of "equal risk, equal regulation" must apply. There should be no exceptions allowed.

Carstens: Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin only pretend to be currencies

According to Carstens, cryptocurrencies only pretend to be currencies. However, they did not fulfill any of the basic monetary functions mentioned in textbooks for money. For example, the high susceptibility to fluctuation makes it difficult to use it as a means of payment or as a store of value. Nor would cryptocurrencies be considered as a unit of calculation.

Although the new technologies are very promising - such as the efficiency of payment systems, said Carstens. However, he believes that it does not require new currencies to realize those promises. Above all, "strong price fluctuations, high transaction costs and lack of consumer protection" would make cryptocurrencies unsafe and unsuitable for fulfilling the original functions of money as a means of payment, processing unit and value storage. Especially the Bitcoin was criticized by Carstens.

Bitcoin "Combination of speculative bubble, pyramid scheme and environmental catastrophe"

He said Bitcoin may have been designed as an alternative payment system that can do without the government. But Bitcoin had become "a combination of speculative bubble, snowball system and environmental disaster". A Bitcoin transaction consumes more power than a one-person household a month, they say.

Cryptocurrencies have come under pressure in recent days. On Tuesday, Bitcoin, the oldest and best-known digital currency, fell below $ 6,000 for the first time since November. Bitcoin has lost more than half of its value since the beginning of the year. Another reason for the price reductions is the fear of more regulation.

Financial and regulatory authorities may need to intervene to ensure financial stability, Carstens said. Unless preventive action is taken, cryptocurrencies could "become more intertwined with the main financial system and thus become a threat to financial stability."

What is the BIS?
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international financial organization and is considered a "bank of central banks." It has an important role in cooperating with each other and with other financial institutions. Ultimately, the BIS sets rules for the international financial system.

Among the 60 BIS members include the US Federal Reserve System, the Chinese People's Bank, the Bank of Japan, the German Bundesbank and the central banks of many other major economies. Accordingly heavy weight have such hard announcements against cryptocurrencies.

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