{"id":232883,"date":"2018-03-20T07:30:50","date_gmt":"2018-03-20T05:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=232883"},"modified":"2018-03-20T07:30:50","modified_gmt":"2018-03-20T05:30:50","slug":"heres-what-the-major-countries-are-doing-about-bitcoin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/232883\/heres-what-the-major-countries-are-doing-about-bitcoin\/","title":{"rendered":"Here’s what the major countries are doing about Bitcoin"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Getting your head around cryptocurrencies was hard enough before governments got involved.<\/p>\n

But now that policy makers around the world are drawing up fresh regulations on everything from exchanges to initial coin offerings, keeping track of what\u2019s legal has become just as daunting as figuring out which newfangled token might turn into the next Bitcoin.<\/p>\n

The rules can vary wildly by country, given a lack of global coordination among authorities.<\/p>\n

And while that may change after finance chiefs discuss digital assets at the Group of 20 meeting in Buenos Aires this week, for the time being there\u2019s a wide range of opinions on how best to regulate the space.<\/p>\n

Below is a rundown of what major countries are doing now.<\/p>\n

Asia<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most of the world\u2019s cryptocurrency trading takes place in this tech-savvy region, with Japan playing a dominant role after it introduced a licensing system for digital-asset exchanges last year.<\/p>\n

In Hong Kong<\/strong>, regulators have adopted a more hands-off approach while at the same time warning crypto platforms to refrain from trading anything that qualifies as a security without permission.<\/p>\n

Singapore<\/strong>\u2019s deputy prime minister has called cryptocurrencies an \u201cexperiment,\u201d adding that he doesn\u2019t see a strong case to ban trading. Taiwan authorities are taking a wait-and-see approach, while the Philippines plans to roll out rules for ICOs by year-end.<\/p>\n

China<\/strong>, once a global hub for cryptocurrency trading, now leads the world in cracking down.<\/p>\n

It has outlawed digital-asset exchanges and ICOs, blocked online access to overseas trading platforms and cut off power to Bitcoin miners.<\/p>\n

South Korea<\/strong>, which became a hotbed of cryptocurrency activity last year, is also tightening oversight as it works on a comprehensive set of regulations, though it has allowed exchanges to keep operating for now.<\/p>\n

In India, where crypto-mania has been relatively subdued, the government has said it doesn\u2019t consider digital currencies to be legal tender and will take measures to curb their use.<\/p>\n

Americas<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most cryptocurrency trading in the US<\/strong> takes place in a legal gray area, a point highlighted by the nation\u2019s two top market watchdogs in testimony to Congress in February.<\/p>\n

Still, the Securities and Exchange Commission has been scrutinizing everything from ICOs to cryptocurrency hedge funds and trading venues. How exactly it plans to crack down on the industry remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

In Canada<\/strong>, regulators have said that ICOs may be treated as securities and that products linked to cryptocurrencies should be considered high-risk.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the country\u2019s stock exchanges have become popular destinations for crypto-related stocks and exchange-traded funds.<\/p>\n

Brazil<\/strong>\u2019s market regulator, meanwhile, has barred funds from investing in cryptocurrencies because they aren\u2019t classified as financial assets.<\/p>\n

Europe, Middle East and Africa<\/strong><\/p>\n

The European Commission is still reviewing the bloc\u2019s regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n

The European Securities and Markets Authority, which coordinates standards across member states, has proposed restrictions on derivatives tied to virtual currencies for retail investors, and is also assessing how the EU\u2019s new MiFID II rules apply to digital assets.<\/p>\n

One regulation that\u2019s already in the pipeline: platforms that exchange virtual currencies for conventional money will soon have to verify the identity of their customers.<\/p>\n

At the national level, Germany<\/strong> has cracked down on trading venues that lack permission to offer brokerage services and French authorities have said that online platforms for crypto-derivatives should face tough reporting and business conduct standards.<\/p>\n

In the UK<\/strong>, a parliamentary committee is looking at how to police digital currencies.<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s finance ministry unveiled draft legislation in January that would ban cryptocurrency payments while allowing ICOs and the exchange of virtual currencies into the traditional sort.<\/p>\n

To make the rules permanent, the ministry may have to overcome opposition from the nation\u2019s central bank.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s mostly a gray area for cryptocurrency regulation in major African economies.<\/p>\n

South Africa<\/strong>\u2019s markets regulator doesn\u2019t oversee virtual currencies or digital-asset exchanges, though the central bank has said it will investigate an \u201cappropriate policy framework and regulatory regime.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Zimbabwe<\/strong>, where digital currencies are traded on exchanges and used for remittance payments, the monetary authority has warned about the risk of \u201cmoney laundering, terrorism financing, tax evasion and fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a similar story in Kenya<\/strong>, one of Africa\u2019s most tech-savvy nations.<\/p>\n

There, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have grown in popularity even as officials have warned against trading them.<\/p>\n

In Nigeria<\/strong>, cryptocurrency markets aren\u2019t regulated, but the central bank, which likens Bitcoin trading to gambling, has said that will probably change.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Policy makers around the world are drawing up fresh regulations on everything from exchanges to initial coin offerings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":230909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[961],"tags":[5537,26],"class_list":["post-232883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-bitcoin","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232883"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":232899,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232883\/revisions\/232899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}