The new week has begun – so as usual, it is time to summarize the last seven days in the blockchain industry.

The previous week was pretty successful for the blockchain industry: the Bitcoin’s price reached $10,000, and we witnessed the historical milestone of half a billionth transaction.

Australia: National blockchain roadmap

This week, we have two interesting news from the smallest continent on Earth. The first one concerns the local government’s approach to the blockchain technology. The Australian Ministry for Industry, Science, Energy, and Resources has prepared a roadmap of national, blockchain-related goals for the country.

The strategy focus on three different aspects: regulations, technological development, and international investments and cooperations. As one of the potential utilization for the blockchain, Karen Andrews, Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, pointed on the ability to track national goods thanks to the global supply chain management systems.

How much for your football club?

The other Australian news goes for more specific blockchain implementation. Perth Glory, an Australian top league football club, is going to be sold to the London Football Exchange – an organization that aims to use blockchain to create “football stock exchange,” which will gather various football clubs. The chairman of Perth Glory, Tony Sage, claimed that the deal will soon be finalized. He also stated that the purchase won’t change anything in the operations of the club, besides integrating LFEC token into payment systems at the club.

Securities based on Stellar in a German bank

Bank von der Heydt, two and half-century-old banking institution based in Munich, apparently goes with the times. The institution announced the cooperation with Bitbond, blockchain financial services provider, aimed to develop a platform allowing to tokenize securities on Stellar blockchain. Bank’s client will be able to invest in securities via custody solution, already approved by German financial regulator BaFin.

North Korean Monero mining

Due to sanctions imposed on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the regime of Kim Jong-un is looking for potential options to circumvent them. And apparently, many possible solutions are related to the blockchain industry. Not so long ago, Virgil Griffith got accused of helping North Korea in that process. Now, the American cybersecurity firm Recorded Future said in a report that North Korean Monero mining operations increased at least tenfold

This cryptocurrency is widely known for an anonymous character, which makes tracking its uses much harder than in the case of other decentralized currencies. Because of that, Monero is, unfortunately, a popular currency to pay for various illicit services. For Kim Jong-un’s regime, it is not unusual to use this coin – yet for the first time, the scale of North Korean operations in Monero is so significant.

Cryptocurrencies discussion in the American Senate

The topic of cryptocurrencies in the United States is a complicated matter. As we wrote in a recent article, this country, despite being the leader in new technologies, has significant problems with the utilization of decentralized money. Most of the concerns are related to regulatory issues – and this subject has once again came back in the US Senate recently. During debate on the 2021 budget, Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin stated that although the technology should move forward, the government needs to take care for cryptocurrencies not to be “the equivalent of old Swiss secret number bank accounts.”

Ukraine won’t regulate mining

In the times when most governments are at least considering various regulations, a new announcement coming from Ukraine might seem to be strange. A local Ministry of Digital Transformation has published a document that lists the main goals for the country in the field of digitalization. The government’s approach toward mining is rather surprising: it states that mining operations are already regulating themselves; thus, authority’s interference is not needed in that case. 

Bitcoin price update

Last but not least, let’s check the situation of the Bitcoin price over the previous seven days. Most of the week was favorable for the cryptocurrency. The Bitcoin keeps a good trend of earlier days and almost reaches the price of $10,500. Only on Saturday, the day after Valentine’s Day, the leading cryptocurrency has noted a $300 downfall. However, this slip does not necessarily mean the end of the bullish trend – Bitcoin keeps the price just beneath the $10,000, and it soon may increase once more.

What the new week will bring for both Bitcoin and the entire blockchain industry – we don’t know. But you can be assured that you will learn it in the next episode of the Weekly Update on BlockChain24.co.

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