The national postal service of Switzerland is working to bridge the gap between physical stamps and the digital cryptocurrency industry by introducing tradable digital stamps. On Sept. 20, the Swiss Post officially announced the upcoming launch of the “Swiss crypto stamp,” a digital collectible linked to a physical stamp issued by the postal service worth 8.9 Swiss francs. The Swiss crypto stamp will provide a digital representation for a physical stamp and will be stored on a blockchain. “Each design forms a nonfungible token and is stored in the Polygon Blockchain,” a spokesperson for the Swiss Post told Cointelegraph. Buyers …

CoinEx cryptocurrency exchange is winding down operations in mainland China to comply with local anti-crypto regulations. The company officially announced on Thursday that it was going to completely retire user accounts verified as mainland China citizens as well as those linked to a mobile phone number from mainland China. The exchange has asked mainland China-based users to withdraw their crypto assets from the platform before Oct. 31, 2021. CoinEx then plans to disable accounts with zero assets starting from Thursday, Sept. 30. “All access will no longer be available to your accounts,” the exchange stated. Despite CoinEx’s aggressive measures to …

The use of new technologies such as blockchain or artificial intelligence has been in the spotlight lately and gaining more acceptance from governments around the world. On Sunday, Sept. 26, Germans voted in parliamentary elections that marked the end of Angela Merkel’s 16 years in office. Since 2005, Germany has experienced deep crises, but also unprecedented prosperity. Merkel’s departure creates a power vacuum, but it also creates the chance for a new beginning — with the crypto sector being no exception. But what might this new beginning look like, and what are German parties planning to do to help the …

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele shared a video showing the apparent progress of the country’s Bitcoin (BTC) mining plant powered by volcanic geothermal energy. The video shows an overview of a power generation facility, with technicians enabling crypto mining rigs. First steps... #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/duhHvmEnym — Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) September 28, 2021 Bukele did not elaborate much on the process shown on the video, only writing “first steps” with a Bitcoin tag alongside emojis depicting a volcano and El Salvador’s national flag. The president’s office did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment. The post comes months after Bukele announced plans …

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is considering creating its own utility token to capitalize on the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies. Named after the agency’s acronym, the plan to launch TAT Coin will have to navigate through Thailand’s complex legal framework and regulations before coming to life. The Bangkok Post reported on Wednesday that the TAT is in discussions with the Stock Exchange of Thailand regarding its ambitions and how the transfer of value can be achieved without introducing the speculative aspects of trading. TAT Coin “would involve the transfer of vouchers into digital tokens that could help operators gain …

Dan Berkovitz, one of three commissioners currently serving at the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission, will be joining the Securities and Exchange Commission as general counsel following his departure in October. In a Tuesday announcement, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, said Berkovitz would assume the role of general counsel starting on Nov. 1, two weeks after stepping down as a commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, where he has served since 2018. Berkovitz said he will be working with SEC chair Gary Gensler on a “regulatory agenda that will enhance investor protection.” Though his …

Governments are tasked with bringing fair and efficient services to the public. Unfortunately, providing transparency and accountability often results in a reduction in efficiency and effectiveness or vice versa. Governments are usually forced to choose to improve one at the cost of the other. On rare occasions, technology comes along that enables governments to improve fairness and efficiency. The move from paper-based record keeping to computer databases was one such technology. The internet was another. Blockchain is the next. Like the internet before it, blockchain will not only improve how the public interacts with government services, it will have broad …

Hold onto your hats, boys and girls! It’s a new world — a financial system without intermediaries, that anyone can access 24 hours a day with only a mobile phone and a wallet! As Julien Bouteloup said to me: “In DeFi, what we are building is fully decentralised technology, fully transparent, run by mathematics. No one can beat that.” He continued: “We are building on research papers, 40 years of research, fundamental research, discrete mathematics being built and put on-chain that no one can beat. You cannot beat that. GitHub didn't exist in the ‘90s. First, the fact that we're …

The legal status of cryptocurrencies remains a mixed bag of regulatory positions, depending on the jurisdiction being considered. While some countries move toward blanket prohibitions or stringent regulations, others elect to go with a more open approach to crypto. For Ukraine, the latter path appears to be the case, with the government encouraging legalized crypto operations within the country. Ukraine’s seemingly positive stance on cryptocurrencies also stands in stark contrast with neighboring Russia where officials are enacting regulatory roadblocks against the ownership and use of digital currencies. While Ukraine enacts laws to recognize and regulate crypto, the country’s central bank …

The Chinese government is getting more serious about cracking down on the cryptocurrency industry as state authorities are bringing forces to combat crypto operations in the country. The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) officially announced on Friday a set of new measures to fight against crypto adoption in China, including promoting stronger inter-departmental coordination in cracking down crypto activity. 10 Chinese state authorities, including the PBoC, the Cyberspace Administration of China and the Ministry of Public Security, have established a “coordination mechanism” to prevent financial players from participating in any cryptocurrency transactions. According to the announcement, the involved authorities and …

Financial regulators in the United Arab Emirates have reached an arrangement to officially allow and support cryptocurrency trading in an economicfree zone in Dubai. The Dubai World Trade Centre Authority (DWTCA) announced Wednesday that it had signed an agreement with the UAE’s Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) to support the regulation and trading of crypto assets within the DWTCA free zone. The new initiative establishes a framework enabling the DWTCA to issue necessary approvals and licenses for financial activities related to cryptocurrencies. As part of the agreement, the SCA will also supervise major crypto-related activities, such as issuance, listing, trading …

Dan Berkovitz, one of three commissioners currently serving at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, said while the agency is suited to futures contracts, swaps, and options trading, it would need additional resources to handle the cash market for crypto assets. Speaking at the Managed Funds Association Digital Assets Conference on Tuesday, Berkovitz said the Commodity Futures Trading Commission enforcement actions in the crypto space have been “aggressive,” citing a $100 million civil monetary penalty against derivatives exchange BitMEX. Though he said the agency had the “capability and the expertise” to further regulate crypto assets, it was currently …