Investing.com - Bitcoin was higher on Thursday, as Thailand announced the date for its Initial coin offering (ICO) regulations and Malta passed a series of crypto and blockchain bills.
Bitcoin was trading at $6,630.50, rising 1.33% the Bitfinex exchange, as of 8:16 AM ET (12:16 GMT).
Thailand’s ICO regulations will go into effect on July 16, the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission announced on Wednesday. The new regulations will include a two-tier vetting procedure through “ICO Portals.” The laws, announced in March, make Thailand the first government to permit ICOs to operate in a regulated environment.
Interested ICO operators will have to comply with a series of prerequisite before they can apply, including capital of at least 5 million Thai baht ($150,000) and disclosing technical functions and investment plans.
Meanwhile in Malta, its parliament approved three bills to create a regulator framework for digital coins. The bills, called the Malta Digital Innovation Authority Act, the Innovative Technological Arrangement and Services Act, and the Virtual Financial Asset Act, were passed on Wednesday. They will allow the country to provide resources for firms to operation in a regulated environment, Silvio Schembri, Malta’s parliamentary secretary for digital economy said.
Cryptocurrencies overall were higher, with the coin market cap of total market capitalization up slightly at $273 billion at the time of writing compared to $269 billion on Wednesday.
Ethereum rose 1.47% to $472.97 on the Bitfinex exchange. Ripple, the third largest virtual currency, increased 0.96% to $0.48850 while Litecoin was at $84.44, down 1.49%.
In other news, the founders of Ripple Labs, which created Ripple, were sued for securities fraud. The lawsuit alleges that the defendants made money by breaking state and federal securities laws and asks for a refund as well as damages.
Tom Channick, Ripple’s head of corporate communication, said in response to the litigation that it was up to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to decide if the digital coin is a security. They believe it is not, he added.