Upbit passes Korea crypto race post; P2P transactions surge in India

Upbit named as first officially licensed crypto exchange under new Korean regulations.

India sees surge in peer-to-peer transactions amid banking challenges.

Cosmos hits an all-time high.

We’ll have more on that story — and other news shaping the cryptocurrency and blockchain world — in this episode of The Daily Forkast, September 20.

Transcript

Welcome to The Daily Forkast September 20, 2021. I’m Angie Lau, Editor-in-Chief of Forkast.News covering all things blockchain.

Ok, well, with just days to go before Korea’s September 24 deadline for crypto exchanges to comply with new regulations or shut down altogether, the first crypto exchange to pass the post has been named. Plus one exchange has already seen the benefit from aligning itself with one of the new rules. We’ll get the lowdown on what’s going on in a vital week for Korea’s crypto industry and a whole lot more coming up.

Let’s get you up to speed from Asia to the world.

First up, South Korea’s Upbit becomes the first authorized crypto exchange in the country, just days ahead of Friday’s deadline.

And even partial compliance with those regulations has its advantages for one exchange, having the Information Security Management System certification in place played actually a key part in its victory in a lawsuit over crypto hacking and sets a powerful precedent for exchanges’ legal liabilities.

Forkast.News Danny Park has all the details,

Having fulfilled both conditions of the new law, ISMS certification, and a bank contract providing investors with real-name accounts, South Korea’s largest crypto exchange, Upbit, submitted its compliance report to the Financial Intelligence Unit on August 20.

Three other exchanges, Bithumb, Coinone and Korbit have also met the requirements but are not yet officially registered.

With days to go, it’s likely just those four, out of 63 exchanges in Korea, will be able to operate as usual after September 24.

One expert tells Forkast.News what we’ve seen is only the beginning of regulatory action:

All the [negative] things [in crypto],happens because there still aren’t [appropriate] laws on virtual assets. So at the National Assembly, both the ruling party and the opposing have proposed multiple laws on the virtual asset industry.

And those new regulations have already proved an asset for one exchange, which was sued by a user over stolen bitcoins. The user blamed the exchange after a little over 1.7 bitcoin was stolen and transmitted overseas.

But the court disagreed, as the exchange in question met the ISMS certification, saying the users’ information could easily have leaked through the other cracks, such as phone hacking.

I guess no pain, no gain applies to crypto exchanges as well.

For Forkast.News, I’m Danny Park.

Meanwhile, amid ongoing banking challenges for the crypto market in India, peer-to-peer transactions have surged.

While big names including State Bank of India, ICICI, and HDFC banks have distanced themselves from the crypto industry. Crypto investors in India themselves have not been put off.

In fact, crypto exchanges say up to 80% of all transactions are now carried out using peer-to-peer transfers, spot trading, and WhatsApp or Telegram groups. And that’s up from 10% to 15% just a year ago.

Forkast.News Monika Ghosh reports from India on why people are going as old school as you can get on blockchain.

Indians are increasingly looking towards alternative transaction methods, like peer-to-peer trades, after struggling to use more traditional methods.

Just last week, SBI, the country’s largest public sector bank, blocked payments to crypto businesses via the commonly used unified payments interface.

Earlier this year, ICICI Bank reportedly asked payment gateway operators to block crypto transactions and HDFC sent emails warning customers about dealing with cryptocurrencies.

The Reserve Bank of India responded in May by reiterating the fact that its 2018 circular asking banks to cut ties with crypto businesses, used as a reason for these moves, was invalid.

But the country’s crypto bill, which could help to finally clarify matters, is still awaiting the nod from the union cabinet before it can be introduced in Parliament.

Despite these issues, Indians are still hungry to join the crypto market. The country ranked second in Chainalysis 2021 Crypto Adoption Index and crypto exchange CoinSwitch Kuber now boasts over 10 million customers.

For Forkast.News, I’m Monika Ghosh, Mumbai, India.

And finally, just last week we reported on the rise of second-tier coins, including Cosmos. Well, over the weekend, we saw it reach for the stars as its price soared 35%.

According to data from CoinMarketCap, that saw the altcoin hitting an all-time high of US$44.54 Monday morning Asia time. It’s the first time the token has crossed the US$40 mark, gaining over 360% percent since mid-July.

Now it’s been on a general upward trend after trading between the Cosmos and Ethereum networks was enabled through integration with SifChain in late August.

Cosmos was among a handful of tokens that did well during last week’s market pullback. That group, which also included Polkadot and Avalanche, all support smart contracts.

Key to note here with smart contracts key to facilitating decentralized finance or DeFi. The race to get money behind an “Ethereum killer” is showing no signs of slowing down.

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.