BEST OF THE BEST YOUGOV: The U.K. is
full of crypto-aware citizens – especially young men, according to a new survey from market research firm YouGov. The poll found that an impressive 93 percent of Britons of all ages had heard of bitcoin.
However, only 4 percent say they understand the crytpocurrency “very well” and 23 percent say they understand it “fairly well”. Men were more than twice as likely as women to say they understand bitcoin fairly well – at 33 percent vs. 12 percent.
As far as actually owning bitcoin goes, only 4 percent fall in that category, a group "overwhelmingly" made up of young men, says the report. Age is a big delineator here too: 9 percent of 18–24 year olds said they have bought the cryptocurrency, compared to just one percent of those aged 55 and above.
Twenty-one percent also believe that cryptocurrencies will one day be as commonly used in payments as cards or cash.
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KOREA TIMES: While South Korea's regulator may be "wasting time" developing rules for cryptocurrency and blockchain, the nation's crypto exchanges are increasingly seeking to
move into foreign markets, says The Korea Times.
Domestic exchanges such as Bithumb, Upbit and Coinine have all launched ventures in other jurisdictions such as the U.S., Singapore and Malta in recent months.
While the country's Financial Services Commission said earlier this year that it come up with rules to boost local blockchain industry while protecting investors, nothing has yet been produced.
The exodus of exchanges abroad reflects “the financial authorities' incapacity in accommodating the newly emerging industry,” according to the news source.
FORTUNE: Blockchain is now so over-hyped that firms are
avoiding the word altogether, says Fortune, reporting on a new report from Forrester Research.
It seems that companies are increasingly ditching the term and using “distributed ledger technology” or “DLT” instead.
While the report acknowledges that blockchain is an important technology, some firms are exaggerating its utility or “blockchain washing” – that is, repackaging existing services.
“The networks that are live or under development vary greatly and frequently lack key characteristics that many regard as essential components of a blockchain,” the report states. Further, the term blockchain may have negative connotations due to the tech’s association with cryptocurrency.
Fortune points out that “blockchain” is still the predominant term, though, with a Google search returning 215 million hits, while “distributed ledger technology” produces only 1.3 million.
