Although China remains a leader in blockchain technology, new regulations threaten the blockchain industry there. BitcoinExchange Guide reports that the Chinese blockchain market is “thriving like never before.”
“China has had quite a big boom in the tech sector… where people are looking very strongly into blockchain technology,” Blockchain Exchange Guide quoted one analyst as saying. “Of course, the popularity of Bitcoin helped in terms of people understanding what blockchain is. In terms of technology, China is actually very welcoming in terms of how these things are being applied.”
But now, China is considering regulations that would, among other things, require users of blockchain services to register with their own names.
South Africa is considering legislation that could hike taxes on blockchain-related activities. Coingeek reports that the National Treasury and the South African Revenue Services introduced changes to a draft of a tax bill that suggest that cryptocurrency should be categorized as a financial instrument. The changes would mean that work on cryptocurrency would not qualify for a research and development tax credit that otherwise applies to innovative activities.
Blockchain haven Malta is considering a legislation intended to further blockchain-related innovation. Cryptoslate reports that the legislation could give legal personality to decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), smart contracts, and blockchains. It’s unclear how that would apply to smart contracts or blockchains, but presumably it would be partly aimed at recognizing DAOs the same way corporations has separate rights from the people who have ownership or management responsibilities for them.
