Politics, Legal & Regulation

May 24, 2023 @ 10:40 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has obtained final judgments against HempAmerica and promoter Eleazer Kauderer. According to the SEC, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York has entered a final judgment on default against HempAmerica. Without admitting or denying the… Read More

May 24, 2023 @ 11:22 am By JD Alois  |  

The European Commission has adopted a new “Retail Investment Package” that seeks to “empower retail investors.” The new policy is part of the European Union’s ongoing Capital Markets Union action plan. During the past few years, the Commission has been gathering and researching the proposals,… Read More

May 23, 2023 @ 5:30 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has taken action against Huobi Global Limited, and its Chief Executive Officer Leon Li for “operating a digital asset exchange (DAX) in Malaysia without registration.” Accordingly, the SC has “issued a public reprimand against Huobi Global Limited, and Leon Li… Read More

May 23, 2023 @ 3:32 pm By JD Alois  |  

The International Organization of Securities Commission (IOSCO) has published a paper making policy recommendations on dealing with digital assets or crypto. The consultation incorporates 18 different recommendations that IOSCO states it will finalize during the last quarter of this year. IOSCO published a digital asset… Read More

May 23, 2023 @ 12:03 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee (SBCFAC) has scheduled its first meeting of 2023 following the influx of new members announced earlier this month. The meeting, which is open to the public and will be live-streamed on the SEC… Read More

May 22, 2023 @ 5:08 pm By JD Alois  |  

Yves La Rose, Founder and CEO of EOS Network Foundation, wants to sue Block.One (B1). In an open letter addressing the EOS initial coin offering – which raised around $4 billion – La Rose expressed his frustration that Block One had used little of the… Read More

May 22, 2023 @ 4:07 pm By JD Alois  |  

Collateral UK, once a peer-to-peer lending platform that went into insolvency in 2018, has seen fraud convictions of its founders. According to the Financial Conduct Authority that filed the charges, Peter Currie was convicted of two counts of fraud and one of money laundering. His… Read More

May 22, 2023 @ 10:41 am By Martin Rauchenwald and Philippe De Backer  |  

The fall of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the emergency merger of Credit Suisse with UBS, and most recently, the seizure and sale of First Republic Bank quickly dissipated much of the trust that had been slowly returning to the banking sector. The question remains: if… Read More

May 20, 2023 @ 10:34 am By Omar Faridi  |  

MerQube UK Limited, a key player focused on the development of technology for indexing and rules-based investing, announces that it has been authorized by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) “to carry on the regulated activity of administering benchmarks under Article 34 of the Regulation… Read More

May 19, 2023 @ 5:46 pm By JD Alois  |  

T. Raja Kumar of Singapore is the current president of the FATF, and yesterday he issued a call to the G7 to end the “lawless crypto space.” The Financial Action Task Force is a global group that aims to halt money laundering, terrorist financing and… Read More

May 19, 2023 @ 11:18 am By JD Alois  |  

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s New York Innovation Center  (NYIC) have published a research report sharing the results of the joint Project Cedar Phase II x Ubin+ (Cedar x Ubin+). Singapore is typically viewed as the… Read More

May 19, 2023 @ 10:58 am By JD Alois  |  

In a speech delivered today, Eddie Yue, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), announced the pilot program launch of e-HKD or the Hong Kong central bank digital currency (CBDC). According to Yue, 16 companies have been selected to participate in the first… Read More

May 19, 2023 @ 10:47 am By JD Alois  |  

A grand jury has issued an indictment in the case of Frank, a Fintech that helped college students gain access to grants and loans, and its founder Charlie Javice. The charges include bank fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy, and securities fraud while demanding the forfeiture of… Read More

May 19, 2023 @ 10:27 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has received a default judgment against Chicago Crypto Capital (CCC) and its founder Brian Amoah and former salesperson Elbert “Al” Elliott. The defendants were previously charged with fraud and the unregistered offering of digital asset securities. The SEC claims… Read More

May 19, 2023 @ 8:27 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Pakistan will reportedly attempt to ban cryptocurrency-related transactions and services. This is not anything new because the country has made similar announcements as far back as 2018 and even earlier. Pakistan‘s Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Aisha Ghaus Pasha recently stated that the… Read More

May 18, 2023 @ 10:23 am By JD Alois  |  

Earlier this week, CI reported that ten companies that raised money under the Regulation A (Reg A+) securities exemption were the targets of enforcement actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). All of these issuers settled with the Commission by paying a penalty ranging… Read More

May 18, 2023 @ 7:23 am By JD Alois  |  

Digital asset industry participants are pushing back against the Parliament Treasury Committee’s report on crypto that declared the asset class should be treated like gambling. The statement was predicated on the opinion that many cryptocurrencies hold no intrinsic value – except for speculation. The Chair… Read More

May 17, 2023 @ 5:19 pm By JD Alois  |  

This morning, a Parliament Treasury Committee issued a report that was highly critical of crypto, announcing that it believes this sector should be regulated similarly to gambling. The Committee said many digital assets have no intrinsic value, creating unecessary risk for UK investors. Today, Innovate… Read More

May 17, 2023 @ 9:22 am By JD Alois  |  

On Monday, Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) revealed that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has finally responded to its request for rulemaking on digital assets. That answer was as anticipated as the Commission declined to pursue new rules. Last month, Paul Grewal, the Chief Legal Officer of… Read More

May 16, 2023 @ 11:01 pm By JD Alois  |  

CryptoUK, a UK-based advocacy group supporting digital asset innovation, has slammed comments made by the UK Treasury Committee that has been reviewing the crypto industry in the country. CryptoUK criticized the statement that denigrated digital asset markets, with the Committee describing crypto as follows: “Unbacked… Read More