digital assets - Pwim.Net

Is Blockchain-Based Virtual Reality the Future?

You haven’t uploaded yourself to the Metaverse yet, which begs the question: what’s the deal with VR? Although it’s been around since 1968 and major companies such as Facebook, Google, and Samsung have invested in virtual reality initiatives like the Oculus Rift, headsets plus equipment can still add up to over a hefty $1000 USD; Mark Zuckerberg admits that “VR is locked in a vicious circle of needing enough content to lure in consumers”; and, at the end of the day, you’re fumbling around a room for a couple of hours (taking time to rest your brain from VR-induced motion sickness), emerging with nothing to show but a splitting headache and a harsh realization that you’re back in reality.

Welcome to the future 🙂

Why Virtual Reality Is Just Revving Up
The Dark Side: Why You Wouldn’t Want to Live in Virtual Reality
How Blockchain Transforms the Virtual World
Why Should I Care About Blockchain-Based VR?
In Conclusion…

Just Revving Up

Virtual reality startups are just beginning to launch their offerings to the public, Decentraland’s VR avatar center opened up to users earlier this month, CEEK recently launched their first virtual reality gift card, and competitors such as Vibehub, Nanome, and Revolution VR are hot on their heels. Wonderful. But, you may ask, what’s new about this?

For years, advocates of virtual reality have struggled to overcome several major barriers to mass adoption — centralized corporations controlled user accounts, hackers eliminated digital assets, and developers lacked incentives to create quality VR content.

Now, blockchain is changing the game.

This means that Decentraland, CEEK, Vibe, and other virtual reality startups are introducing what you could call…VR 2.0. Rather than relying on high-def, graphically breathtaking games and visual experiences to attract their user base, they’re banking on their ability to replicate the sense of community of the real world; and, they plan to defeat the dark side of VR with none other than blockchain.

The Dark Side: Why You Wouldn’t Want to Live in Pre-Blockchain VR

Let’s imagine for a moment that you’ve decided to expatriate the real world and move online to a world much like that created by Second Life, a VR platform that gained crazy numbers of adopters back in the early 2000s. Now, everything may be cool and groovy for a while with this centralized setup. But humor me and hang on before you cut all ties with reality.

Would you really want to spend countless hours building up a life complete with a house, possessions, and social connections – essentially, what you spent your 20s doing! – and feel your stomach drop as a gaming platform suddenly fails?
Or, choose to place the final brushstroke on your artistic masterpiece, sell your first business product, or film your first movie…and feel helpless to stop others from copying and profiting off of your creative talent?
Or, remain unsure that the people you interact with on a daily basis are who they claim to be — that is, who’s to say that someone hasn’t suddenly decided to impersonate your beloved mother, business partner, or romantic interest?

(If you answered any of those with a resounding NO, you’re not alone.)

How Blockchain Transforms the Virtual World

// Decentralises power //

According to Decentraland founder Ariel Meilich:

“If this power were put into the hands of the users instead [of big gaming corporations], the true potential of VR might be realised.”

If you’re exploring a virtual reality world, you often have the ability to buy products: clothes, avatars, materials, or land. Those virtual possessions, unfortunately, are usually stored in a central database and controlled by a single entity, which means that if the central company gets hacked, goes under, or decides to change your account holdings, you can’t do anything but utter a few expletives at your screen and start from square one all over again.

But what if you recorded these purchases — virtual land, a hot pair of Rayban sunglasses, a CryptoKitty — on blockchain so that they were stored permanently? After all, blockchains aren’t just used for cryptocurrencies. They can store much more complex information; for example, when you buy a plot of land in Decentraland’s Genesis City, that plot is represented on the Ethereum blockchain as a unique token with specific coordinates and maintained by a smart contract.

It’s like owning a piece of land, or a car, or a rocking pair of shades in real life. Just like how others trust that you possess, (say, a Lamborghini) because they can physically see the proof, anyone can check the global, decentralized blockchain ledger and verify that you’re the rightful owner. What’s more, you can reuse your accessories on other platforms, control their content, and feel confident that a central gaming company won’t lose your information, eliminate your belongings, or change the rules of your world.

That’s the first plus. Here’s the second…

// Provides an incentive to create //

“As an owner, you have full creative freedom and any income generated by anything you make goes straight into your pocket.”

— Ariel Meilich

In a blockchain-based system, users can rely on cryptocurrencies to recreate a trusted economy without needed banks or other middlemen to run transactions. Businesses, entertainment venues, home…with control over your content, you can run and monetize them, with all profits going straight to you. It’s a Digi-human creative renaissance, let’s call it, as described by our friends from AltCoin Mag:

“Companies and individuals could purchase, design, and sell buildings. Designers could create virtual clothing (whose look could far surpass what is possible in the real world) that could be sold to individuals for online identities. Artists could create art displays which surpass all limitations of the physical world.”

— AltCoin Magazine

But let’s say you’re not quite buying land in Genesis City quite yet…

Why Should I Care About Blockchain-Based VR?

Rather than exploring exoplanets and endless reaches of our universe, there are those who think that in the end, humans will choose virtual reality. This means that when the conversation shifts to VR, we’re talking about the creation of worlds that you could potentially live in someday.

In Conclusion…

In order to create VR that takes off, we’re going to need to recreate what really matters to us in reality: people, experiences, connection. Even if we go digital, we’re still human.

Yes, there will be a slow curve of adoption as headset costs fall, content quality increases and blockchain-based social and economic structures provide the incentive for people to join the world of VR. But in the meantime, as this brave new world slowly gains appeal in a wider market, we may see its ripples out into reality. As Simon de la Rouviere predicts:

“we will most definitely see a new surge of people demanding exactly that reality into the real world. Down with corrupt governments. Down with archaic governance. Down with intolerance. Down with all the bull****.”

Until then?

Start designing your virtual avatar.

Fortex Launches Crypto Non-Deliverable Forwards

Fortex Technologies, a globally recognized multi-asset trading provider, has announced the expansion of its crypto services to include crypto non-deliverable forwards (NDFs), as well as an institutional platform for cryptocurrencies and digital assets.

NDFs are forward contracts that are settled through cash and are often presented on a short-term basis as the name suggests. Notably, the notional amount is certainly not paid. Fortex views NDFs as an ideal solution to institutional clients seeking access to enhanced liquidity, as well as substantial trade allocations in an ECN environment.

Expressly, ECN or Electronic Communication Network can be viewed as a bridge that links smaller market participants with the liquidity providers via a Forex ECN broker.

Jason Young, the head of Institutional Foreign Exchange (FX) at Fortex stipulated:

“The major benefits in the design of Fortex’s software and system architecture are that it: 1) is completely flexible, modular, and scalable, 2) is multi-asset, and 3) has been continually improved upon for over 20 years. While there are differences between fiat and cryptocurrencies, our technology and market experience have made the integration of cryptocurrencies and digital assets to our platform a smooth one.”

On the other hand, the institutional platform to offer cryptocurrencies and digital assets will provide end-to-end solutions. Some of the speculated benefits include enhanced liquidity aggregation, risk management, price discovery, and reduced transaction costs.

Image via Shutterstock

Thailand’s SEC to Eradicate Any Stumbling Blocks to Digital Asset Advancement

Asian nations are gearing towards incorporating digital assets into their economies as the world gets ready for the fourth industrial revolution or 4IR touted to be transformative. For instance, it is speculated that China is setting a precedent in blockchain adoption.

Thailand is also not wasting any time because it intends to open up the digital asset sector by amending the present regulations.

According to the Bangkok Post, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Thailand has revealed plans to revise the royal decree on digital asset businesses in 2020 to boost digital assets’ growth, as well as shield investors from avoidable risks.

The secretary-general of the SEC, Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol, acknowledged that it would scrutinize whether the royal decree has any stumbling blocks to digital asset businesses.

She acknowledged: “Laws should not be outdated and should serve market needs, especially for new digital asset products, and be competitive with the global market. We need to explore any possible obstacles.”

The royal decree was effected in May 2018, and it listed four secondary business intermediaries, namely brokerage firms, dealers, crypto exchanges, and token portal service providers or ICO portals.

As specified by the SEC, the royal decree caters for digital tokens, cryptocurrencies, and any other electronic data unit.

Image via Shutterstock

Crypto Data Platform Offers Digital Asset Data to Institutional Clients via BT Radianz Cloud

CryptoCompare, the digital asset data provider company for both institutional and retail clients, announced in a press release on its blog that it plans to offer a suite of digital asset data products via the BT Radianz Cloud, as a secure and reliable financial markets cloud communities which will enable institutional clients to have a fine, secure and dependable perspective of the growing digital asset class.

Managing Director of Radianz BT, Michael Woodman said that the addition of CryptoCompare to the Radianz Cloud would provide their institutional clients the opportunity to see the better side of the digital asset class, creating enough chances for the growth and development of an ambitious institution.

“Adding CryptoCompare to the Radianz Cloud offers our established institution clients access to a reliable and granular dataset for the fast-growing digital asset class. It creates new opportunities for institutions with ambitions for growth and helps provide transparency in the digital asset market,” Woodman said.

By adding CryptoCompare’s full suite of digital asset data, BT Radianz’s clients will gain access to a thorough market data offering plus trade and order book data across more than 150,000 crypto-trading pairs and also reference rates.

The co-founder and CEO of CryptoCompare, Charles Hayter, held that this development would ignite confidence about the digital asset data class into clients.

“As the digital asset class matures, increasing numbers of institutions are exploring the opportunities this industry offers. By providing access to CryptoCompare’s trusted datasets via the secure BT Radianz Cloud, we will encourage greater confidence in this fast-growing asset class.”

Image via Shutterstock

AICPA Publishes a Practice Aid for Digital Assets

The growing popularity of crypto assets has left many Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) contemplating how to best account for them under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).

The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) has not been oblivious to the rapidly changing digital assets ecosystem and has even released a practice aid to help in crypto accountancy on Monday, Dec. 16. The practice aid is founded on professional experience and literature from members of the Digital Assets Working Group. It also emphasizes US-based GAAP.

Crypto Assets Dubbed Cryptographed Digital Records

The practice aid views crypto assets as digital records that have been cryptographed for security and verification purposes on a distributed ledger. It also addresses ten questions about how digital assets should be accounted for under GAAP.

For instance, how should an entity that does not apply under the specialized industry guidance account for purchases of crypto assets for cash?

The AICPA has also acknowledged that crypto-assets can be utilized for various purposes, such as a medium of exchange or as a financing vehicle.

Diana Krupica, AICPA’s Emerging Assurance Technology Lead Manager, noted: “This nonauthoritative guidance will be updated with additional content regularly, as topics are finalized, and posted to aicpa.org.”

She added: “Content related to auditing of digital assets is expected to be added to the Practice Aid in early 2020.”

The AICPA created the Digital Assets Working Group as a joint working group under the Assurance Services Executive Committee and the Financial Reporting Executive Committee. It comprises of two areas, one that tackles accounting and the other on auditing matters.

The accounting subgroup was, therefore, mandated with creating nonauthoritative guidance on accounting for crypto assets intended for financial statement auditors and preparers with a notable knowledge of blockchain technology.

As reported by Blockchain.News on Nov 26, the Crypto Price Index (CPI) is expected to be an ideal crypto market indicator because it will include over 200 of the top traded cryptocurrencies based on market capitalization. As a result, it is anticipated to function like the Dow Jones Industrial Average by offering insights about the trading history of the major blockchain projects.

Image via Shutterstock

Singapore Payment Services Act Now in Effect For Crypto Firms

Cryptocurrency firms in Singapore must now operate in compliance with the Payment Services Act which came into effect on Jan. 28.

The new legislation requires cryptocurrency providers and exchanges to be licensed under some of the same regulatory elements as traditional financial service providers. In addition, crypto firms must also comply with the Financial Advisers Act, Insurance Act, Securities and Futures Act and the Trust Companies Act.

MAS New Rules

According to a press release published on Jan. 28, the new rules place cryptocurrency firms under the oversight of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

Loo Siew Yee, Assistant Managing Director, MAS said in the release, “The Payment Services Act provides a forward-looking and flexible regulatory framework for the payments industry. The activity-based and risk-focused regulatory structure allows rules to be applied proportionately and to be robust to changing business models. The PS Act will facilitate growth and innovation while mitigating risk and fostering confidence in our payments landscape.”

Standard Operating Licenses

Essentially, the new regulations require, cryptocurrency and digital asset providers to apply for standard operating licenses that traditional financial firms would also be required to obtain, these include—standard payments institution license; money-changing license and a major payment institution license.

The press release stated that applying these standards to the emerging digital asset services will, “enhance the regulatory framework for payment services in Singapore, strengthen consumer protection and promote confidence in the use of e-payments.”

Image via Shutterstock

US Rep. Tom Emmer Fears Criticism of Digital Payment Innovation May Repress Progress

In a congressional hearing which was held on Jan. 30, US Representative Tom Emmer has expressedhis concerns about the excessive criticism of innovations in digital payment, saying that it may repress its progress.

The constraints faced by digital payments

The US Rep. further elaborated on his fears over regulations which he believes will stifle the growth of innovative solutions: “There’s a whole environment out there of brilliant, genius, young people who are coming up with new ways to transfer value every single day,” he further emphasized, saying. “I worry that we’re going to crush that entrepreneurial spirit and that advancement.”

In a meeting comprising of several US representatives from the Financial Services Committee, the Fintech Task Force sat for a hearing which was on Jan. 30; the meeting was given a title ‘Is cash still king? Reviewing the Rise of Mobile Payments.”

The group sat for an intensive session of discussion, and they also exchanged comments with several witnesses. Usman Ahmed, PayPal Head of Global Public Policy and the US Faster Payments Council’s Executive Director, Kim Ford, were among the witnesses during this session.

A defense on cryptocurrency’s behalf

During the session, Emmer singled out the senior policy counsel for Consumer Reports, Christina Tetreault, with his questions, which led to further discussions in favor of the various crypto assets available for different use cases.

“Although you only mentioned Libra, which is not itself a cryptocurrency, I would hope that you more fully explored these innovations,” Emmer continued, mentioning “the opportunities that they provide to both built a financial future for individuals, but also to empower individuals to control the value of their own assets, separate from government control.”

The entire session appeared to be fruitful and lasted for about two hours, touching on the different issues and concerns of all the parties present.

Regardless of Emmer’s concerns, the growing number of severe and mature discussions regarding digital assets and blockchain is a small victory in itself. As recently reported by Blockchain.News, Presidential candidate Andrew Yang was outspoken on the need to clear the mess of “hodgepodge” regulation. He also cited the dangers of deterring innovation.

Image via Shutterstock

IRS Refuses Watchdog Request to Clarify 2019 Crypto Tax Guidelines

The Internal Revenue Service will not clarify how taxes work with cryptocurrencies and digital asset transactions according to a US congressional watchdog’s report released on Wednesday.

Following Rep. Ken Brady’s (R-TX) request for clarity on how taxes are levied against cryptocurrency, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report evaluating the IRS’ current approach and public guidelines on cryptocurrency.

GAO Recommends Disclaimer to 2019 Crypto Guidelines, IRS rejects

Following the report, GAO made recommendations to the IRS, as well as an additional recommendation to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEn).

The recommendations were, “GAO is recommending that IRS clarify that part of the 2019 guidance is not authoritative, and take steps to increase information reporting; and that FinCEN and IRS address how foreign asset reporting laws apply to virtual currency.”

In response to the recommendations, GAO reported that the IRS, “Agreed with the recommendation on information reporting and disagreed with the other two, stating that a disclaimer statement is unnecessary and that it is premature to address virtual currency foreign reporting.”

Despite the IRS’ refusal to disclaim the guidelines as non-authoritative, GAO believes a disclaimer would increase transparency and that IRS can clarify foreign reporting without waiting for future developments in the industry.

FinCEN agreed with GAO’s recommendation.

Overall Clarity needed in US Regulatory Guidance

As reported earlier by Bloomberg Tax, while the IRS’ 2019 guidance answered some questions around the tax treatment of cryptocurrencies, they also raised new concerns among virtual asset stakeholders. Complying with tax requirements may be difficult, and the GAO report suspects that trading activity may be underreported due to a lack of clarity around what should be reported.

Prior to ending his presidential campaign, Democrat Andrew Yang had expressed his frustrations at the mixed communication from the main regulator bodies. He said “Right now we’re stuck with this hodgepodge of state-by-state treatments and it’s bad for everybody: it’s bad for innovators who want to invest in this space. So that would be my priority is clear and transparent rules so that everyone knows where they can head in the future and that we can maintain competitiveness.”

Perianne Boring, President and Founder of the Chamber of Digital Commerce has expressed similar regulatory frustrations as those presented by Yang.

In a recent interview with Blockhain.News, Boring commented, “In the United States, we have a very fragmented regulatory environment which has been an obstacle toward a framework that supports innovation—you have the SEC , that’s looking at digital tokens and classifying them as securities; the CFTC that’s also looking at digital tokens and classifying them as commodities; the IRS is taxing them as property, and FinCEN is regulating them as currency. There are just a lot of different regimes. And so, for the companies operating token platforms, there’s a lot of regulatory uncertainty.”

The reality is that until regulatory bodies are able to clarify and demystify how innovation and investment can work in the US, innovation will be tentative and investors will be apprehensive.

Image via Shutterstock

Russia Finally Showing Signs of Embracing Digital Assets in New Bill

After successfully undergoing test period, tokenization is set to take center stage with reforms as newly proposed cryptocurrency legislation in Russia received the green light.

News has been making the roundsfrom the Central Bank of Russia on Feb. 17 as regards the finalization of a blockchaintokenization test drive with the use of platform developed by Nornickel within its regulatory sandbox. Subsequently, this has seen a proposal from the bank to modify the nation’s digital assets law to accommodate platform tokenizations.

The platform is available for use to all organizations and gives access to them to issue hybrid tokens backed by a pack of assets. The developed technology is expected to expand the scope of financing possibilities for businesses while providing new investment opportunities for its users.

Ivan Zimin, who leads CBR’s fintech division, commented that it was one of the most significant projects backed by the sandbox. Showing clear excitement about the potentials of being able to issue hybrid tokens, He believed that they could swiftly adapt to requirements from businesses and users.

Zimin commended the platforms stating that its tremendous success has seen a request by the bank to amend regulations. He also spoke on regulatory amendments, saying that, “following the results of the pilot program, the Central Bank of Russia proposed amendments for the federal bill project ‘On digital financial assets’ that are required to integrate and develop these solutions on the growing digital asset market.”

Nornickel, one of the largest mining companies in the world, was credited with the success of developing the platform. Also worth noting is the corporation’s penchants for the development of top platforms as it is responsible for initially developing the platform to tokenize palladium, with the testing phase of the digital assets trading platform commencing Dec. 19, 2019.

As previously reported by Blockchain.News, prior to this time we have seen Russia making moves to set up a better regulatory framework around cryptocurrency, we could say that the disposition of the Russian government towards cryptocurrencies remains unclear with several ministries and the central bank is alleged to be working towards agreeing to a ban on cryptocurrency. It is quite surprising to see the latest landmark being achieved.

Image via Shutterstock

South Korea Passes Comprehensive Law Officially Legalizing Cryptocurrency Trading And Holding

A day after India’s Supreme Court lifted the ban on cryptocurrencies, South Korea’s National Assembly followed suit and has amended the Act on Reporting and Use of Specific Financial Information. As reported on March 5, this move fully legalizes cryptocurrencies in South Korea.

Momentous amendment

Following the passage of the amendment by the South Korean Parliament, cryptocurrency holding and trading have finally found their place in the nation’s legal system. It is speculated that this turn of events will usher in a restructuring of the country’s blockchain sector.

After President Jae-in Moon signs the passed amendment, the enactment process will kickstart and is expected to take full effect one year from the date of signing, with a six month grace period to follow for a market adjustment.

Once this time lapses, crypto businesses, such as exchanges, wallet companies, and trusts, will have to adhere to the new rules and regulations. For instance, a real-name verification partnership with an approved local bank will be needed. This will come in handy in averting money laundering as a verified person will be assigned a single bank account where he/she can deposit and withdraw fiat currency to and from an exchange.

The lengthy two-year wait

The landmarking amendment had to wait for two years for it to be passed as it was subjected to thorough deliberations, as well as trial and error procedures. Nevertheless, a happy ending is now in sight as the Korean National Assembly has given cryptocurrencies the greenlight.

South Korea has emerged to be one of the nations setting a precedent in the blockchain/crypto arena. For instance, in October 2019, it revealed that it could pump in a whopping $12.8 million USD into the blockchain industry. Later on, in January 2020, it announced its intentions of a 20% tax on cryptocurrency proceeds.

With cryptocurrencies being validated in South Korea and India, will other nations follow suit?

Image via Shutterstock