Australia’s corporate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has released its 2018-2019 to 2021-2022 corporate plan (the Plan), articulating the regulator’s short and medium term strategic vision and focus. Cryptocurrencies, ICOs and blockchain featured as part of the Plan, reflecting their growing relevance for ASIC in protecting investors and markets. In summary, the Plan: acknowledges the significant impact that blockchain and distributed ledger technologies (DLT) are likely to have on Australia’s financial services…
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (“CommBank”) (Australia’s largest bank by market capitalisation) has recently confirmed that they have successfully applied blockchain and internet of things technology to a global trade shipment involving 17 tons of almonds. The almonds were shipped from Sunraysia, Australia to Hamburg, Germany. The other companies involved included the Port of Melbourne, Pacific National and Olam Orchards Australia Pty Ltd. CommBank used the Ethereum blockchain for the experiment because of its large…
As reported, the Philippine central bank (Bangko Sentral ng Philipinas) (“BSP”) has approved applications filed by two cryptocurrency exchange platforms to facilitate the conversion of Philippine pesos (“Pesos”) into cryptocurrencies. There are now five BSP-approved cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the Philippines. This development is undoubtedly a positive for cryptocurrency adoption in the Philippines and total Peso-to-crypto conversion volume is substantial, with around US$38 million worth of Pesos being exchanged into crypto per month in late…
A joint statement (Statement) on cryptocurrencies has been released by the National Bank of Cambodia, the Securities Exchange Commission of Cambodia and the General-Commissariat of National Police of Cambodia. The Statement reinforces that Cambodian authorities consider activities relating to cryptocurrencies (trading, settling and other activities) that are conducted without an appropriate license to be illegal. Interestingly the Statement names certain cryptocurrencies (including KH Coin, Suncoin, K Coin, One-Coin and Forex coin) that have been observed…
Thailand has moved closer to being among one of the first jurisdictions in the Asia-Pacific region (and globally) to facilitate ICOs through targeted regulation. According to a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand (“SEC”), as reported by the Bangkok Post, five ICO projects are to be cleared by the regulator and permitted to move forward with their ICO plans (out of 50 ICO projects that applied for regulatory approval). This comes after…