Blockchain technology has often been well-praised for its ability to facilitate instant cross-border transactions. However, at this moment in time, while most banks are researching the benefits of blockchain, no system of this kind has been implemented yet.

A recent announcement made by SWIFT, the world’s biggest global interbank messaging platform, may make blockchain-based bank-supported cross-border payments a reality. As such, the SWIFT announcement mentions that blockchain firms will soon be able to leverage the Global Payments Innovation (GPI) platform to carry out instant payments.

At this moment in time, many of the worlds countries have opened up to the cryptocurrency market, whereas some have also introduced laws meant to regulate the industry. As such, the number of crypto-friendly countries is steadily growing.

Despite this aspect, recent reports indicate that India’s stance against digital currencies is slowly, yet surely getting worse. With this in mind, an inter-ministerial panel, put in charge with drafting up a regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency market, has reportedly proposed 10 years jail punishment for anyone connected to Bitcoin and other digital currencies.

Despite the increased popularity of cryptocurrencies, the mining industry is still struggling in several countries. As part of this article, we will cover two recent developments that have taken place in Russia and Iran.

Russia Planning to Introduce Administrative Penalties for Crypto Miners

With this in mind, recent reports indicate that the Russian State Duma is currently debating whether administrative responsibility should be introduced for the local digital currency mining market. According to Anatoly Aksakov, the chairman of the Duma’s Financial Market Committee: “I note that any operations with cryptocurrency that are contrary to the Russian legislation will be considered illegitimate. This means that mining, organizing issuance, circulation, creating exchange points for these tools will be prohibited. Administrative liability in the form of a fine will be incurred for such actions. We believe that cryptocurrencies created on open blockchains such as bitcoins, ethers, and others are illegitimate tools.”

During the last couple of years, the cryptocurrency market has grown exponentially. Yet, this increase in popularity brought along several new fintech trends, including the emergence of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), tokens, and now, social media cryptocurrencies.

Recent reports indicate that Facebook has been actively working on its cryptocurrency ambitions for a while. Rumours discussing an internal crypto-related project have first appeared last year, when it was revealed that Facebook was seeking a $1 billion funding for Project Libra, the social network’s digital currency.

The cryptocurrency mining market has been pretty volatile over the last couple of years, granted massive price swings, updated regulatory frameworks, and fluctuating difficulty rates. Despite this aspect, tens of thousands of people throughout the world have invested in purchasing mining hardware, to help mine their favourite cryptocurrency, and turn a profit.

At this moment in time, most popular digital currencies rely on miners to dedicate their hardware resources to authenticate transactions, and ensure the fulfilment of the proof-of-work protocol, which in return, rewards them with newly-minted coin. Mining represents an immensely profitable market, especially when access to low-cost electricity is available, and when volatility brings coin prices up.

Since its inception, the Ethereum blockchain has been backed by the Proof-of-Work algorithm, similarly to Bitcoin. Yet, Ethereum’s founder, Vitalik Buterin, has often talked about his plans of ditching PoW, in favour of Proof-of-Stake (PoS), which he believes to be better suited for Ethereum’s purposes.

Now, recent reports indicate that the PoS blockchain code will be finalized sometime in June. The news comes from Justin Drake, a researcher for the Ethereum Foundation, who stated: “I’ve been continuing to fine comb Phase Zero in preparation for the spec freeze which we’re targeting for the 30th of June (…) we’re still very much on track. Still, code simplifications are coming through which is great and the process of fine combing is also for finding final bugs.”

Lately, apart from attempting to regulate the digital currency and blockchain markets, governments throughout the world are actively looking for ways to get a slice of the crypto cake. So far, the effort has mostly taken the shape of central bank-backed digital currencies.

As such, numerous countries have announced commencement of work on their very own CBDC projects. Pakistan represents one of the latest examples, since the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), has stated that they’re planning to launch a CBDC by the year of 2025.

So far, 2019 hasn’t brought along much price volatility on the cryptocurrency market, but the trend is quickly changing. With this in mind, the bitcoin price recently went through a 19% increase, thus breaking the $4,200 technical barrier. This quickly led to a price growth that managed to hit $5,000 in only a few hours. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $5,245.

As it often happens, following the price swing, numerous other important cryptocurrencies went through the same change. As such, the XRP, Litecoin and EOS all increased in value. The ether price grew from $137, and is currently trading at approximately $155.

Any price swing of this magnitude begs a simple, yet highly-relevant question – why? So far, several price analysts have shared their opinion on the matter. Before we dwell into the reasoning behind the uptrend, it is important to mention that this is pure speculation, granted bitcoin’s complex marketplace.

The increasing popularity of the digital currency market has encouraged central banks throughout the world to consider developing their own centralized digital currencies. This trend is understandable, granted that governments and traditional financial institutions are interested in keeping their control over the financial system.

Recent reports indicate that Ukraine has ramped up development of its central bank-based digital currency (CBDC). In fact, the country’s central bank has already finalized a pilot scheme for the national cryptocurrency, referred to as the e-hryvnia.

During the last two years, the cryptocurrency market has seen an increased number of regulatory efforts from financial institutions throughout the world. In general, most frameworks attempt to limit illegal activities tied to digital currencies, while also establishing a set of guidelines for crypto users. On the other hand, other laws are focused on limiting the use of crypto altogether.

With a population of over 1 billion, it’s no surprise that digital assets have gained quite a bit of popularity in India – especially since a large percentage of the population is unbanked. This has encouraged the government to pursue the adoption of a regulatory framework. Shortly after, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), released a circular, informing banks that they are no longer permitted to offer financial services to individuals or businesses involved with digital currencies. In other words, the RBI urged banks to sever ties and close the accounts of crypto traders and businesses accepting it as a form of payment.