Altcoins
UK Central Bank Tests Ripple’s Interledger Protocol for Cross-Border Payments (Coindesk)
Cross-border payments when applied to wholesale markets present different challenges than when compared with retail and corporate transactions, which the Ripple product is designed to handle. The availability of liquidity is one such challenge, and the PoC allowed the Bank and Ripple to begin exploring these questions.
Two More Banks Join the SBI Ripple Asia Consortium (Live Bitcoin News)
The SBI Ripple Asia Bank Consortium has seen significant growth as of late. As the name suggests, the goal is to get Asian banks on board and have them experiment with Ripple technology. So far, a lot of Japanese banks have already signed up. Considering this consortium only exists for about a year now, the growth has been rather remarkable. It now appears a few more banks have joined the consortium as well.
ICOs
With MyEtherWallet Phishing Surge, Do ICOs Need To Use Slack? (The Cointelegraph)
Regulation
Cryptocurrencies need regulation, says CEO of Chinese bitcoin exchange BTCC (CNBC)
But the challenge is how to craft the rules around this new technology … I think it's taking the lawmakers and regulators some time to wrap their minds around it, and to come up with the appropriate rules and laws to govern companies, how we do business, to govern individuals (and) how people conduct business online. – Bobby Lee, CEO of BTCC
$20,000: IRS to Exempt Casual Bitcoin Buyers From Coinbase Data Request (Coindesk)
Perhaps most notable, according to the July 6 notice, is the fact that the IRS is only trying to obtain records on users who have conducted "at least the equivalent of $20,000 in any one transaction type (buy, sell, send, or receive) in any one year during the 2013-2015 period”.
Mysterious Ethereum Millionaire Sparks New Debate on Anonymity (The Cointelegraph)
For many, the allure of digital currency is the anonymous nature of it, and in that light, if it was taken away and regulators got their way, there would be a lot of pullback. Financial privacy has been missing in regular banking spheres for some time now as the centralized system looks to garner all relevant information tied to monetary transactions.
