Politics, Legal & Regulation

June 24, 2023 @ 2:24 pm By JD Alois  |  

Prime Trust, once one of the most successful Fintechs serving the securities crowdfunding industry, is now insolvent, according to a document filed by the State of Nevada, Department of Business and Industry, Financial Institutions Division (NFID). In a cease and desist (C&D) order, NFID claims… Read More

June 24, 2023 @ 9:58 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Crypto.com announced that it has received its Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) registration from the Bank of Spain. Crypto.com secured this registration “following a comprehensive review of its compliance with Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD) and other financial crimes laws, as well as measures to safeguard… Read More

June 23, 2023 @ 5:34 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The European Union has introduced the European Digital Infrastructure Consortium (EDIC), a new entity that aims to focus on promoting blockchain policy in order to move Europe’s “digital decade” forward in a meaningful manner. The EDIC should become operational towards the end of 2024 and… Read More

June 23, 2023 @ 11:24 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Monero’s encryption tech, which makes use of signatures from several different users to conceal who has carried out a monetary transfer, has reportedly not been hacked by any nation (at least it has not been widely reported). As reported by Fast Company, analysts with the… Read More

June 23, 2023 @ 9:31 am By Omar Faridi  |  

CACEIS, the asset servicing unit that’s owned by Credit Agricole (ACA.PA) and Santander (NYSE: SAN), has reportedly registered with France’s markets regulator AMF in order to offer digital asset custody services (including cryptocurrencies). The firm has registered as a digital asset service provider (DASP) on… Read More

June 22, 2023 @ 6:42 pm By JD Alois  |  

Another Pig Butchering scam is in the news again. “Sha Zhu Pan” or “Pig Butchering” is a romance plot designed to fleece the funds of the unsuspecting. In this case, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed an enforcement action against Cunwen Zhu and… Read More

June 22, 2023 @ 3:31 pm By JD Alois  |  

Detractors of digital assets, or crypto, typically point to the utilization of crypto to pursue nefarious activities such as money laundering. Rules exist for financial transactions regarding “know your customer” (KYC) and “anti-money laundering” (AML), but they are enforced to various degrees depending on the… Read More

June 22, 2023 @ 1:44 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Bank of England has raised its benchmark interest rate by 50 bps, increasing from 4.5% to 5%. Today, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted by 7 to 2 to increase by 50 bps. Two of the members wanted to remain at the current 4.5%… Read More

June 22, 2023 @ 12:33 pm By JD Alois  |  

Bitgo has decided to terminate its preliminary agreement to acquire Prime Trust. Earlier this month, rumors circulated about troubles at Prime Trust, with Bitgo emerging as a white knight to acquire the firm. BitGo had signed a term sheet to acquire the equity of Prime… Read More

June 22, 2023 @ 9:10 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Ripple, which claims to be the leader in enterprise blockchain and crypto solutions, announced that its Singapore subsidiary Ripple Markets APAC Pte Ltd, has obtained In-Principle Approval of the Major Payments Institution License application from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). This license will allow… Read More

June 21, 2023 @ 1:26 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), the entity that represents all provincial/territorial regulators, says some crypto trading platforms are siting relations with bogus regulatory or dispute organizations. These trading platforms are simply trying to burnish their creditability, hoping that an unsuspecting investor may fall for the… Read More

June 21, 2023 @ 1:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed an enforcement action against audit firm Marcum LLP regarding its audit work for “hundreds” of SPACs. Marcum has settled the matter without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, paying a $10 million penalty while agreeing to remedial… Read More

June 21, 2023 @ 9:53 am By Omar Faridi  |  

We recently caught up with Valerii Brizhatiuk, Chief Product Officer, Co-Founder at Swisstronik, a layer-1 solution designed to build scalable decentralized applications that ensure users’ data protection and privacy, while remaining in compliance with local regulations. According to the project team, Swisstronik is unique because… Read More

June 21, 2023 @ 7:49 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Deutsche Bank AG (ETR: DBK) has reportedly submitted an application for obtaining regulatory clearance to serve as a digital asset custodian, based in Germany, the bank revealed on Tuesday (June 20, 2023). As first reported by Bloomberg, this latest development from Deutsche Bank comes only… Read More

June 20, 2023 @ 9:21 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is reportedly working on a solution for central bank digital currencies (CDBCs) to support financial transactions between nations, IMF MD Kristalina Georgieva revealed on Monday (June 19, 2023). As reported by Reuters, Georgieva told a conference attended by various reserve… Read More

June 19, 2023 @ 7:37 pm By JD Alois  |  

Do Kwon, the creator of TerraUSD – LUNA, has been sentenced to four months in the slammer in Montenegro, according to multiple reports. Kwon’s attempt to create an algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD has been cited as a huge catalyst in the crypto collapse of 2022. The… Read More

June 19, 2023 @ 11:35 am By Omar Faridi  |  

We recently connected with Andrew Saks, who talked about the importance of financial inclusion for the vast majority. Notably, 1.4 billion people remain unbanked, which takes several countries in Southeast Asia to allow a larger virtual currency ecosystem to take root in their countries. The… Read More

June 18, 2023 @ 9:36 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Only a couple months after finalizing a $155M acquisition of Apex Crypto, an established trading infrastructure provider, the New York–headquartered crypto-assets platform Bakkt Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: BKKT) is delisting three major digital currencies: Solana (SOL), Polygon (MATIC), and Cardano (ADA). Marc D’Annunzio, Bakkt General Counsel… Read More

June 17, 2023 @ 12:08 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

A senior US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) official on Friday (June 16, 2023) rejected the recent criticism of the regulatory authority’s crypto-related crackdown and also slammed the industry for violating applicable securities laws. As first reported by Reuters, the regulator’s increased scrutiny of cryptocurrency… Read More

June 17, 2023 @ 11:19 am By JD Alois  |  

Earlier today, the SEC revealed that it has received court approval for “emergency relief” from Binance and affiliated entities to require funds impacting US investors to be maintained in the US. The order states that funds must be repatriated and held for the benefit of… Read More