Europe
Welcome to another weekly blockchain news roundup from around the world. Here we present to you all the latest Bitcoin news, continent by continent and country by country.
Germany
Court Rules That Cryptocurrency Trading Requires No License: A German court in Berlin announced that trading digital assets in the country requires no license. The judgement was made earlier this week on October 16 and was widely welcomed by the crypto community.
The move comes amid confusion among several European authorities on how to deal with cryptocurrencies and Germany’s progressive approach may influence them to loosen their stance.
United Kingdom
Environmental Foundation Using Blockchain to Foil “Greenwashing” Claims by Companies: A new blockchain tool is being utilized by a UK foundation to foil attempts of greenwashing by companies in the country. Greenwashing is typically termed as fraudulent claims of high sustainability ethics that are raising eyebrows of the environmental organizations.
Greenwashing is a common tactic being used by oil companies and other carbon emitting businesses through a mixture of phony ads and propaganda. The UK-based Responsible Finance and Investment Foundation (RFI) will use the blockchain system to investigate the claims of these companies.
Expert Expects 2 Years for Appropriate Crypto Regulation: A UK legal expert has come out and said that solidifying regulations in the United Kingdom may take up to two years to accomplish.
James Kaufmann, the legal director at Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC), a reputed professional and legal services company believes that the two-year estimate is a best-case scenario and it may even drag on longer than that.
The UK government has assembled a cryptocurrency task force to come up with regulations and they are giving a late 2019 timeframe at the moment.
Malta
Two-thirds Fail in Cryptocurrency License Exam Despite Attempts to Ease the Process: Almost two-thirds of applicants appearing in cryptocurrency agent certification exam have failed the test despite last minute changes made to ease the process by the examiners.
The Virtual Financial Assets Act from November last year mandated an exam and a training course for all those who want to work as cryptocurrency agents in the country. The agents can offer a wide range of services including ICO liaison with the government, cryptocurrency vendors and much more.
However, the poor performance at the test has raised eyebrows regarding the ability of the enthusiasts to be in compliance with the law. The testing institute, however, has declined to comment on the matter.
Spain
Nostrum Coffee Chain to Accept Cryptocurrencies: Spain’s Nostrum coffee chain has announced a partnership with Cyclebit payment gateway to start cryptocurrency acceptance across the chain.
Nostrum has started dealing in Bitcoin and has 130 shops across the country.
Russia
Church Turns to Mining, Illegally: A church is Siberia has been brought to court for draining too much power from the local grid to mine cryptocurrencies.
While cryptocurrency mining itself is not illegal, the church used its depreciated power rates to mine cryptocurrencies and even raised extra funds for the purpose.
Netherlands
Government Promoting Blockchain Economy: The Dutch government is leading in blockchain innovation in Europe especially with projects that directly benefit the public. The country is rapidly breaking down barriers on both cryptocurrency and blockchain adoption.
According to Emanuele Francioni, the tech-lead of Dusk Foundation, a nonprofit organization said:
“The Netherlands hosts one of the most passionate blockchain scenes in the world,” he suggests, adding that, “Most of the early experimentation by the government was done with multinationals through consortia, often in the permissioned [private] space…we are starting to see the first permissionless [public] initiatives getting more public traction, which is a very exciting area that should get a lot more attention.”
The number of cryptocurrency investors is also increasing in the country as the number has increased four times since last year despite massive Bitcoin price tanks in recent times.
Ukraine
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The post Europe: Crypto and Blockchain News Roundup 12-18 October 2018 appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.