As the latest cryptocurrency news this month hinted, China may be about to launch a fiat digital currency with which the country will probably compete with Bitcoin. However, the expert analysts found that China's digital fiat is not actually a real cryptocurrency and will only resemble one on the surface. Aside from this, the coin won't use a blockchain, too. Even though it is inspired to some degree by Bitcoin and the like, the effort will be explicitly framed as a strategy in order to beat them back. The altcoin news show that China's digital fiat currency came with a project that was thrust into the spotlight last weekend, when a senior official from the People's Bank of China (PBoC) said at a closed-door conference that the country and its central bank digital currency (CBDC) is ready to launch.

“Since last year, the staff at the Digital Currency Research Lab have been working 996 to develop the system. We can say the CBDC is now ready to launch at one’s call," was his speech, later shared by many best cryptocurrency news sites.

The CBDC with this aims to replace MO, meaning cash in circulation through a two-tier system. The central bank will issue the digital yuan only to commercial banks, who will further issue it to the public. Meanwhile the PBoC and its Digital Currency Research Lab are the ones standing behind China's digital fiat currency - along with more than 50 patent applications which are all either invented or co-invented by Yao Qian. One patent application reads:

“The emergence of digital currency is an inevitable trend. So far, privately issued digital currency bears the features of anonymity and volatility. Central banks must take their impacts on the payments, monetary systems and financial stability seriously. As such, it’s inevitable for central banks to push for digitized fiat currencies to optimize their circulation.”

However, physical cash is still arguably the only form of fiat money inside China that can remain anonymous. We can see that China's digital fiat currency is not close to cryptocurrency - and the only third-party methods which are compared to bank wire can be offered by companies like Alibaba or WeChat - both requiring real-name verification authenticated by users' IDs as well as additional banking information.

“Existing M0 (banknotes and coins) are subject to counterfeit and money laundering risks. … The [CBDC] system should follow the existing rules about anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing imposed on cash, and should report to the PBoC on large amounts and suspicious transactions,” Mu emphasized in a speech.

The latest cryptocurrency news show that the crypto laws in Europe are about to tighten up. We can see that the European Union is ready to gradually tighten up the guidelines in the crypto space - in a time when Bitcoin and many altcoins are volatile and susceptible to any changes in terms of regulation. All of this will make cryptocurrency users likely to feel the difference in the coming months. These measures stem from obligation of user reports to transpose EU's Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD5) into the national laws by January. If this happens, we could expect a very changing landscape regarding cryptocurrency regulation. Speaking of, the crypto laws in Europe could start from Germany. As the flagship of EU, this country is just one of the first to really make the modifications. As seen on many best cryptocurrency news sites, brand new anti money laundering (AML) laws entering into force next year will oblige digital asset exchanges including providers of crypto payment and custodian services that will apply for permits from Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bafin). The regulation should wrap up by the end of 2019 in Germany, so that it is becoming implemented starting from January 2020. Starting next year, the German economic authorities will lead the new crypto laws in Europe and start thinking about electronic coins as an economic instrument. Even though some welcome the regulatory quality regarding the status of cryptocurrencies, others believe that a lot more aspects need clarification. In the altcoin news, we can see that Germany is one of the countries that is truly hurting the crypto businesses - especially within the country - but overseas, too. Aside from this country, the Czech Republic has also been focusing on a unique group of rules and pertaining to the initiative of changed crypto laws in Europe. Failure to register utilizing the nationwide Trade Licensing Office, therefore, could lead to massive fines for service providers in the space. Estonia is yet another EU member that has been tuning its crypto laws recently. This small Baltic nation was one of the main in the continent that produced favorable circumstances for businesses dealing with digital assets, attracting many of them to its jurisdiction. AMLD5 went into power on July 9, 2018 as part of the new crypto laws in Europe with a main goal of expanding the scope of anti-money laundering regulations to pay for crypto trade platforms as well as wallet providers.

The coming altcoin news put the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the focus. As we can see from the news in the United States, the IRS began sending letters to people with digital currency transactions who have apparently failed to report income and pay taxes - or who did not report any of their transactions properly. As the report shows, more than 10,000 taxpayers by the end of August will receive these letters - the IRS said when obtaining the compliance efforts. According to the head of the agency, the IRS already began sending the letters. The Commissioner Chuck Rettig said:

"Taxpayers should take these letters very seriously by reviewing their tax filings and when appropriate, amend past returns and pay back taxes, interest and penalties. The IRS is expanding our efforts involving virtual currency, including increased use of data analytics. We are focused on enforcing the law and helping taxpayers fully understand and meet their obligations."

The latest cryptocurrency news show that there are three versions of the IRS missive. Now that IRS began sending letters to people who failed to report or pay their crypto taxes, the three main types of the IRS missive include Letter 6173, Letter 6174 or Letter 6174-A - all stressing their tax and filing obligations and how to correct the past errors. The altcoin news also show that people can refer to information shared on IRS.gov which includes forms and schedules, which ones to use and where to send them. Recipients of the IRs letter are on notice as IRS began sending letters - and the agency thinks that they may need to report. So, many best cryptocurrency news sites advise people now to take a look at what they reported and fix whatever they missed. What's more important is the fact that even though you did not receive one of these IRS letters, you should definitely consider doing the same thing. Amending the tax returns to ask for big tax refunds is an audit trigger - and every user should be careful with the IRS. This comes in time when cryptocurrency is an ongoing focus area for IRS criminal investigation.

Bakkt acquired the needed approval from the US regulators to start trading physically-settled bitcoin futures which is a move many believed will provide greater legitimacy to the crypto industry before the institutional investors as we are now reading in the coming altcoin news below. The Intercontinental Exchange’s subsidiary announced back on Friday that the New York Department of Financial Services has provided Bakkt the clearance to acquire a New York state trust charter. This will provide the exchange of permission to start operating as a limited liability company which means it could also custody bitcoins for physically delivered futures. The new service will be launched on September 23^rd. According to their blog post, Bakkt CEO Kelly Loeffler pointed out that the Bitcoin futures contracts have already received approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission via the self-certification process. Bakkt will now introduce an institutional-grade custodial solution named the Bakkt Warehouse and will meet the highest standard of oversight. Loeffler noted:

 “Bakkt bitcoin futures contracts will not rely upon unregulated spot markets for settlement prices, thus serving as a transparent price discovery mechanism for the benchmark price for bitcoin. The importance of this differentiator is only amplified by reports of significant manipulative spot market activity, and other concerns such as inconsistent anti-money-laundering policies and weak compliance controls.”

The futures contracts will now be exchange-traded on the ICE futures while ICE Clear US will provide clearance. This marks the first time physically-settled bitcoin futures contracts will be listed on the regulated exchange. The move also provides comfort for investors who wanted to speculate on Bitcoin but now have other plans owing to higher risks, market surveillance and lack of compliance associated with the global cryptocurrency exchanges. Loeffler pointed out after Bakkt acquired the approval:

 “Providing a trusted ecosystem is our first objective. To do that we are setting a higher standard, including an institutional compliance and anti-money laundering program, settlement prices that are distinct from unregulated spot prices, comprehensive market oversight, a guaranty fund contribution, and insurance.”

As we read in the reports in the latest cryptocurrency news, Bakkt had plans to launch its services in December 2018 after they get the CFTC approval but the delays prompted it to self-regulate the contract. Bakkt announced later that they will begin accepting users in order to test Bitcoin futures contracts on July 22.