Politics, Legal & Regulation

June 30, 2022 @ 10:13 pm By JD Alois  |  

The President’s Working Group (PWG) on Financial Markets met today to discuss the topic of stablecoins. In 2021, the PWG published a report on stablecoins requesting legislation stating: “…in the absence of Congressional action, which is urgently needed to address the prudential risks inherent in… Read More

June 30, 2022 @ 7:12 pm By JD Alois  |  

The European Union has agreed on crypto-asset regulation under the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) legislation. According to tweets distributed by Member of European Parliament (MEP) Stefan Berger, Europe will be the first continent with crypto asset regulation as the European Parliament, European Commission and… Read More

June 30, 2022 @ 12:23 pm By JD Alois  |  

Largest CFTC Enforcement Action Ever Involving Bitcoin. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has announced its largest enforcement action regarding Bitcoin ever. According to the CFTC, charges have been filed in a case involving a South African individual, Cornelius Johannes Steynberg, and his organizations involving… Read More

June 30, 2022 @ 9:26 am By JD Alois  |  

Grayscale’s most recent attempt of migrating Bitcoin-based GBTC, traded on OTC Markets, to an exchange-traded fund (ETF), has been denied. In an Order posted by the SEC yesterday, the Commission disapproved a proposed rule change that would have allows the spot Bitcoin ETF to trade… Read More

June 29, 2022 @ 6:45 pm By JD Alois  |  

Earlier today, Germany’s Federal Minister of Finance, Christian Lindner, and the Federal Minister of Justice, Dr.Marco Buschmann, announced regulatory and policy changes designed to boost entrepreneurship, access to capital, and embrace the digitization of finance with digital securities – or security tokens. The Financing Act. Das… Read More

June 29, 2022 @ 4:21 pm By JD Alois  |  

According to a series of Tweets, the Norwegian government will dip its toes into leveraging blockchain technology. As shared in the Tweets, the Norwegian government will be utilizing Ethereum via Arbitrum for cap tables of private firms. Earlier today the Norwegian government announced they're using… Read More

June 28, 2022 @ 4:38 pm By JD Alois  |  

Giacomo Bertoldi, CEO of Walliance, has been appointed as the new Chair of EUROCROWD. Bertoldi will be taking over from Christin Friedrich, founder and CEO of Innovestment. The selection of Bertoldi was made during EUROCROWD’s meeting last week and he will serve as non-executive Chair… Read More

June 25, 2022 @ 4:40 pm By JD Alois  |  

While some people say a proverbial “soft landing” is possible for the economy a growing number of people are expecting a recession as soon as this year or perhaps in 2023. As a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative growth, and the fact that… Read More

June 25, 2022 @ 11:28 am By JD Alois  |  

PSD2 or the European Payment Services Directive 2, has been in force since 2016 but payment services providers had until 2018 to adhere to the rules. The EU directive requires providers to incorporate heightened authentication features as well as taking aim at APIs that may… Read More

June 24, 2022 @ 8:27 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) in the UK has set out its plans showing how it proposes “to carry out two market reviews focusing on card fees.” As noted in the update from PSR, one “looks at scheme and processing fees, and the other at… Read More

June 23, 2022 @ 9:38 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed ESG rules that may compel public firms to disclose climate risks that may impact the environment. The rule proposal was accepting comments from interested parties up until this past week with a deadline of June 17th. While everyone… Read More

June 23, 2022 @ 11:11 am By JD Alois  |  

Congressman Jim Himes, an elected official from Connecticut, has published a “white paper” on the benefits of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Upon release, Himes issued the following statement: “Over the last few years, we have seen other governments make real progress in establishing… Read More

June 22, 2022 @ 10:52 am By JD Alois  |  

Eurocrowd, the leading association representing the investment crowdfunding industry in Europe, has announced a survey to garner information as to the status of their members in the approval process under pan-European crowdfunding rules. Last November, the European Union revealed crowdfunding regulations to enable raising capital… Read More

June 22, 2022 @ 10:38 am By JD Alois  |  

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will review credit card companies and their penalty policies like fees assessed for late payments. The CFPB reports that credit card companies generate $12 billion in revenue each year from these fees. More than 175 million citizens hold credit… Read More

June 22, 2022 @ 2:00 am By JD Alois  |  

The British Business Bank has shared the results of its annual Small Business Equity Tracker and the numbers for 2021 appear pretty strong. The Equity Tracker uses data from Beauhurst on publicly announced equity deals into UK SMEs. According to the Bank, equity investments in… Read More

June 21, 2022 @ 4:59 pm By JD Alois  |  

Republican members on the US Senate Banking Committee have requested more information from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding the Commission’s proposal to require reporting companies to disclose their climate impact. In a letter addressed to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, signed by the 12… Read More

June 21, 2022 @ 4:01 pm By JD Alois  |  

Senator Cynthia Lummis and Representative Patrick McHenry, along with several other elected representatives, have sent a letter to Michael Regan,  the Administrator ot the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), telling the official to consider the benefits of crypto mining before considering any regulation that could impact… Read More

June 21, 2022 @ 11:07 am By JD Alois  |  

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) “Fintech specialist” Neel Maitra has joined the law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Washington, DC. According to the law firm, Maitra will be a member of Wilson Sonsini’s securities regulatory and complex transactions group. While at the SEC’s… Read More

June 20, 2022 @ 7:29 pm By JD Alois  |  

In November of 2021, the European Union announced pan-European securities crowdfunding rules. While there are still certain details being worked out, effectively an issuer may now list a security on an online investment platform and raise capital across all EU member states. European Crowdfunding Service… Read More

June 20, 2022 @ 12:51 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Blockchain Intelligence Group, a global cryptocurrency compliance and intelligence company, owned by BIGG Digital Assets Inc. (CSE: BIGG), is pleased to announce the launch of NFT Explorer, “the first risk and investigation solution for NFTs, built on the QLUE™ data analytics platform.” Development of the… Read More