India issues update on CBDC plans.
Korea threatens to block access to foreign crypto exchanges.
Hong Kong’s Animoca Brands launches NFT accelerator.
We’ll have more on that story — and other news shaping the cryptocurrency and blockchain world — in this episode of The Daily Forkast, July 23.
Transcript
Welcome to The Daily Forkast, July 23rd 2021. I’m Angie Lau, Editor-in-Chief of Forkast.News, covering all things blockchain.
Coming up, India updates its CBDC plans. Korea threatens to block access to foreign crypto exchanges. Hong Kong’s Animoca Brands launches in NFT accelerator promoting financial inclusivity.
Let’s get you up to speed from Asia to the world.
India has issued an update on its CBDC plans, and it looks like they’re set to continue at a snail’s pace.
The Reserve Bank of India says a phased implementation of the digital rupee is on the cards with a pilot in the near future now a possibility.
But little progress has actually been made. The central bank is still discussing whether the CBDC should be retail or wholesale, distributed ledger or centralized ledger, token or account based, and issued by either the central bank or commercial banks.
Other hurdles still to be overcome include the need for updated laws to accommodate this new form of legal tender.
However, the RBI’s deputy governor was keen to stress the benefits of introducing a digital currency, including reducing the country’s dependency on cash, thus improving security, as well as offering a smoother international settlement system.
Still, it’s baby steps.
This as proposals for new regulations of private crypto currencies appear to have stalled in legislature for the moment.
Meanwhile, Korea looks set to block access to foreign crypto exchanges.
That’s the threat.
And yet another warning issued by Korea’s Financial Services Commission.
It says any exchanges found to be offering services to Korean users after September 25th without reporting to the Financial Intelligence Unit will have their websites blocked.
The FIU has now sent a letter to 27 foreign crypto exchanges, which are believed to have Korean users reminding them they must comply with the country’s strict crypto exchange regulations, which come into effect on September 24th.
The FSC says that as of July 21st, no foreign business operator had obtained the necessary information security management system certification that actually forms part of those new regulations.
The FSC went on to warn users that block on foreign exchanges could make it very difficult to withdraw their assets.
And onto the markets today, bitcoin up 1% at around US$32,500. That’s as of 4 p.m. local Hong Kong time.
And a relatively muted trading day at the end of the Asian trading week.
And in the top 10 for crypto currencies, PolkaDot up 6.5% and Ethereum up 3.5% as we see signs on GitHub that it’s headed closer to ETH 2’s proof of stake transition.
And finally calling all creators, an NFT accelerator is launching in Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong based unicorn – Animoca Brands is hoping to foster financial literacy and inclusivity with their Launchpad Luna program set up in partnership with venture accelerator Brinc.
Animoca’s chairman told Forkast News that the program hopes to foster an understanding around the ownership of assets such as NFTs at a much younger age.
“We have to sort of evangelize, you know, I think we’ve been fairly prolific in terms of talking about the topic as much as we could, but it’s not enough. We have to also get people in the space. The NFT accelerator is a way of doing this. The kind of people who build startups tend to be, sort of you know, rule breakers and game-changer type of people. So we want to influence that cohort.”
Siu says you don’t need to be a blockchain expert to apply as Launchpad Luna will offer all the support needed, as well as funding of up to half a million US dollars to anyone who has a great concept to develop.
The program is set to kick off its first project in late Q3 or early Q4.
Time to get those financial thinking caps on.
And that’s The Daily Forkast from our vantage point right here in Asia. For more, visit Forkast.News. I’m Editor-in-Chief Angie Lau. Until the next time.