Today’s Northern Hemisphere’s cryptocurrency news

· Royal Bank of Canada: XRP can reduce transaction time and costs

According to Usethebitcoin, the Royal Bank of Canada report shows that Ripple’s token XRP can help banks significantly reduce transaction time and costs. The bank believes that XRP can be transferred between parties without a central counterparty, in order to supporting the flow between any two currencies.

· The European Commission has included cryptocurrency transactions in the scope of cryptocurrency payment fraud regulation

According to finextra, the European Commission has imposed a more rigorous judgment on cryptocurrency payment fraud in accordance with the new rules approved by the European Commission. The draft report was passed by 31 votes to 1, without abstaining. The new rules are specifically:

1. According to the illegal act, sentenced to five, four or three years imprisonment as the minimum penalty for the nation’s “highest” imprisonment for non-cash payment fraud.

2. Illegal cryptocurrency transactions are included in the scope of the crime.

3. Improve EU-wide cooperation to ensure better handling of cross-border fraud.

4. Strengthen assistance to victims of non-cash fraud, such as psychological support, financial, practical and legal counseling, and at least provide free legal aid to those who lack sufficient resources.

5. Improve awareness of instances of fraud cases through advocacy, education, and permanent online information tools.

European Commission member Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann said that more and more non-cash payments (such as cards, e-wallets, mobile payments and tex pay coins) provide criminals with loopholes in existing rules.

· Russian state-owned manufacturing group Rostec cooperates with Waves platform to develop blockchain system

According to the official Rosstec, Russian state-owned manufacturing group Rostec is working with the Waves platform to develop a blockchain system. The company holds shares in 700 industrial entities in Russia. The project applies blockchain technology to the operation of Rostec, in particular for the standardization, collection and analysis of product data produced under the supervision of Rostec, including military and civilian products. Both parties have signed official documents during the Eastern Economic Forum (WEF).

· Postdoctoral fellow at Tsinghua University in Beijing: The USDT issue boosts the price of Bitcoin, and the issuer or the market

According to Wu Wenfa, a postdoctoral fellow at the Wudaokou Finance College of Tsinghua University, the data shows that the continuous issuance of USDT is accompanied by the increase in bitcoin prices. The market participants’ demand for the stability of the cryptocurrency value scale gave birth to the stable currency USDT, and the Tether issuer also used this as the main selling point of the USDT. According to empirical tests, the issuance of USDT is based on the willingness of the issuer to supply, which also deepens doubts about the issuer’s manipulation of the market. The authors speculate that one of the reasons why the Tether issuer used the USDT coin to push up the price of Bitcoin was to get the US dollar at a high level and then use it to make up for its insufficient reserve. If this guess is true, then the price of Bitcoin will fall significantly or decrease in the two days at the end of the month.

· Hong Kong jewelry retailer Chow Tai Fook will use the blockchain platform to track diamonds

According to the cointelegraph, Hong Kong jewelry retailer Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group will begin to use the blockchain platform to track diamonds. Chow Tai Fook placed some diamonds on a blockchain platform developed by blockchain startup Everledger and protected by the IBM blockchain platform. According to reports, this will enable retailers’ customers to use the T Mark app to determine the source and authenticity of the gemstones sold in their T Mark brand stores.