1. South Korea likely to maintain ICO ban
Hong Nam-ki, who leads the Office for Government Policy Coordination, said that the government would make a final decision on whether to reinstate ICOs in November. The current South Korean government still bans ICO.
2. The UAE plans to allow ICOs
The UAE announced that it would allow initial coin offerings (ICO) as a fund-raising method for domestic companies. The board of the Emirates Securities & Commodities Authority has approved considering ICOs as securities. The new regulations will take effect by 2019.
3. China launches the first blockchain industrial pilot zone in Hainan
China set up the first blockchain industrial pilot zone with Oxford in Hainan free trade zone, the largest free trade zone in China.
4. Hong Kong Monetary Authority: has never planned to invest in any digital asset projects
HKMA reminded the public that it has never, and has no plans to, invest in any digital asset projects and cryptocurrency.
5. Indian prime minister: blockchain will help improve Indian people’s lives
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi praises blockchain technology on tweeter, saying that the IoT, big data and artificial intelligence will work in tandem with blockchain to push India forward.
6. People’s Bank of China is seeking blockchain talents
The openings include computer scientist, lawyer and finance and economics professionals. The job descriptions range from developing fiat-linked digital currency software, encryption technology, legal research to analyzing economics theory, monetary mechanism and policy analysis.
7. Singaporean BK Global became the largest shareholder of Bithumb, the largest Korean exchange
Bithumb confirmed that it had sold more than 38 percent of equity to BK Global, a Singaporean blockchain group, for $350 million. BK Global Consortium is a blockchain investment company formed by Singapore plastic surgery group BK Global. The deal would value Bithumb at more than 1 trillion won, or about $880 million.
8. Hurun China Rich List 2018: 14 people from the blockchain industry are listed
Micree Zhab and Jihan Wu both from Bitmain are ranked number one and two in the industry, with a wealth of 29.5 billion RMB and 16.5 billion RMB. Micree Zhan is the only blockchain person to enter the top 100 list. Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, ranked third in the blockchain industry with 15 billion RMB. Yuesheng Kui, 26, from Bitmain, became the wealthiest person in the post-90s generation with a wealth of 3.4 billion RMB.
9. People’s Bank of China researcher: support the use case of RMB-pegged stablecoin
Fudan University professor Huaqing Wang and Liangsong Li, an associate researcher at People’s Bank of China, jointly published an article titled “A Brief Analysis of Stablecoins.” If the dollar-pegged stablecoin is scalable and can support the development of the real economy, China should consider backing its domestic institutes issuing RMB-pegged stablecoin.
