Today on Altcoins This Week we discuss the recent decision by Facebook to re-activate Cryptocurrencies Ads, we analyze the newest steps South Korea is taking to work on crypto regulations and more.
Zcash Mining Power Unrestricted By New Vote
In a move that surprised Zcash Foundation President Andrew Miller, Zcash community members have voted against a proposal that would have restricted the use of powerful ASIC hardware to mine the privacy coin. The motion, which was denied by 45 votes to 19, was part of a set of issues up for consideration by the fledgling governing panel of Zcash this week.
Like other cryptocurrencies, Zcash is grappling with the issue of governance. 64 individuals had been elected to the panel to vote on important issues affecting the currency going forward. The use of ASIC’s has been a topic of debate within the Zcash community for some time. Those against the adoption of the hardware, believe that placing weighty mining power in the hands of a small number of wealthy ASIC holders, would lead to the currency becoming more centralized. However, the company that holds the source code to Zcash, the Zcash Company has yet to adopt a formal stance on the issue. The Zcash Foundation is a separate entity to the Zcash Company and was founded to ensure that the project holds true to its decentralization ideology.
South Korea Takes Steps Towards Fully Regulated Cryptocurrency System
South Korean Exchanges have been in the news this year for all the wrong reasons. Coinrail was hacked in early June, leading to a 10% dip in crypto markets. This was immediately followed by news that Bithumb had also had its coffers plundered by hackers. But finally there has been some good news from the Asian peninsula, with reports that the state financial regulators have revised their anti-money laundering regulations, softening their previous stance on cryptocurrencies.
While the regulators were quick to explain that this is not a State endorsement of cryptos, it signals a move towards proper regulation and, thereafter perhaps, a more mainstream acceptance of the market. There has been growing pressure on the Financial Services Commission and Financial Supervisory Service to move to protect investors following the recent hacks, and by adopting a more conciliatory approach to cryptos in its latest guidelines, the blockchain community in South Korea is hoping they are witnessing the first steps on the road to full acceptance by state regulatory authorities.
EOS Whale Surfaces To Add Weight to Governance Concerns
The latest episode in the continuing saga of EOS “Block Producers” was aired this week, with the surprise announcement by Block.One, the EOS creator and owner of 10% of the one billion EOS tokens originally planned, that it would take part in EOS community voting. In EOS’s complex structure, Block Producers play a part similar to Bitcoin miners, but they must be democratically elected by the EOS community. Block.One will have a quarter of the total share of tokens staked on the network, with its 100 million tokens bringing the overall number on the EOS Mainnet to 275 million. This gives Block.One considerable clout.
EOS has had a tumultuous few weeks, with its Mainnet launch plagued by delays and technical issues, while arguments over account freezes and arbitration controversies angering the community. Now with Block.One in a position to dominate the voting sphere, EOS users are left confused and disgruntled. The EOS creator had promised to stay out of voting, leaving the decision making to the community at large. It will be interesting to see where this reversal leads the project, which raised $4 billion in its year-long ICO.
Cryptocurrencies and Facebook are Friends Again
Facebook has reversed its ban on cryptocurrency advertising just six months after introducing the blanket prohibition. Now, cryptos can apply to the social networking giant for permission to advertise their digital currencies to the platform’s 2 billion users. The news was welcomed by markets and lead to a significant recovery in prices across most top 100 coins.
ICOs are still banned, however, leading one to assume that they still qualify as products “that are frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices”, as they were termed in the original announcement in January of this year. The slackening of Facebook’s stance against cryptos comes amid continuing rumors that the company will purchase US Exchange and wallet service Coinbase.
Altcoin Markets: No News Is Good News
Ether started the week at $455 and reached a high of $470 later that day, before steadying until Friday, when it dropped to a low of $409 after which it bounced back and traded at the mid-four hundred level on Sunday. Ripple followed a similar path, opening the week at $0.46, peaking early at 0.49 but losing any gains by Friday when it bottomed out at $0.42, before getting back to its starting price of $0.46 by Sunday. Bitcoin Cash bounced from $700 to $769 on Monday but struggled around the $700 mark midweek before plunging to $655 on Friday after which it recovered to the mid-seven hundreds by week’s end. EOS also hits its peak of $8.51 on Monday and low of $7.18 on Friday, before climbing back to $8.15 on Sunday. Litecoin followed the trend, but peaked on Tuesday at $81.82 and stayed steady until dropping to $73 on Friday. It finished the week trading at $80. Check current prices here.
With no new fresh hacks or negative regulation stories to report, the markets hoped to reverse the downward spiral of recent weeks, but another Friday Bitcoin crash put pay to that hope before a slight recovery over the weekend.
