1.A global financial body says cryptocurrencies aren’t a threat
2.India: RBI Stalls its Plans to Launch Central Bank Digital Currency
3.Bitcoin Magazine Launches Custom Block Explorer
4.New York Becomes the First State in the U.S. to Have a Crypto Task Force
1.A global financial body, which includes India, says cryptocurrencies aren’t a threat
Finally there’s some good news for the Indian cryptocurrency ecosystem—and this one’s from a global financial body.An inter-governmental body that makes recommendations about the health of the world economy has said that virtual currencies are not a threat.
An inter-governmental body that makes recommendations about the health of the world economy has said that virtual currencies are not a threat.
The observation was made by the Financial Stability Board (FSB), which counts over 20 countries as its members, including the US, UK, China, and India. The assessment came to light after India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), quoted the agency in a report released last week. ”The FSB has undertaken a review of the financial stability risks posed by the rapid growth of crypto-assets. Its initial assessment is that crypto-assets do not pose risks to global financial stability currently,” the RBI report said.
2.India: RBI Stalls its Plans to Launch Central Bank Digital Currency
According to a report from Business Line, published on January 1, 2019, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has stalled its plan to launch a national digital currency.
Too Early for Central Bank Digital Currency
The cryptocurrency ecosystem in India has been plagued with confusion and indecisiveness, and the latest decision by the country’s financial watchdog is no exception.
Citing unnamed sources close to the matter, Business Line’s mentioned that the government and the RBI “think it is too early to even think about a digital currency.”
It was speculated that the financial watchdog’s idea of launching a CBDC stemmed from the need to check rampant money laundering, cyber-security threats, and tax evasion. However, the lack of any official word on the development has left things up in the air.
3. Bitcoin Magazine Launches Custom Block Explorer
As part of the new Bitcoin Magazine site they have launched a custom block explorer, using Blockstream’s open-source implementation Esplora.
What Is a Block Explorer?
A block explorer is an interface for exploring blocks in a blockchain in a detailed way. It provides updated information regarding every block in Bitcoin’s blockchain. Such information contains details including the total number of transactions in a block, as well as the individual outputs for each transaction.
The explorer also includes information about the block itself, such as how many blocks have been made before it (block height), the number of confirmations it has, a timestamp of when the block was accepted by the network, and size of the data inside.
Block explorers are designed to be relatively user-friendly so that anyone can understand what information is being displayed. Using one is as simple as clicking through the most recent blocks and viewing the data inside it.
Block explorers are useful because they are a way for anyone to explore any part of Bitcoin’s blockchain at any given moment without having to manually search for a specific transaction. The search bar in a block explorer allows users to search for various data on the blockchain, including block height, hash, transaction ID and address.
4.New York Becomes the First State in the U.S. to Have a Crypto Task Force
On Wednesday (2 January 2018), New York State Assemblyman Clyde Vanel announced via a press release posted to his Facebook account that his state had become the first in the U.S. “to create a cryptocurrency task force to study how to properly regulate, define and use cryptocurrency.”
Vanel, who is the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Internet and New Technology at the New York State Assembly, says that the creation of this crypto task force has been authorized by Assembly Bill A8783B, which had been “signed into law” on 21 December 2018 by Governor Andrew Cuomo.
According to the text of the bill, the purpose of the New York state “digital currency task force” is “to provide the governor and the legislature with information on the effects of the widespread use of cryptocurrencies and other forms of digital currencies and their ancillary systems in the state.”
