Politics, Legal & Regulation

February 23, 2023 @ 12:18 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), have joined once again in issuing a warning on crypto. Last month, the three federal entities issued a statement cautioning banks… Read More

February 23, 2023 @ 10:43 am By JD Alois  |  

The fraud charges continue to pile up for disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. Earlier today, the US Department of Justice filed an updated complaint that outlines twelve charges – an increase from the previous criminal charges. The claims continue to be damning and expansive, highlighting… Read More

February 23, 2023 @ 10:09 am By JD Alois  |  

The US Department of Justice has issued a statement that a federal grand jury in the District of Oregon has returned an indictment charging the four founders of Forsage, a DeFi decentralized finance (DeFi) crypto investment platform, alleging a global Ponzi and pyramid scheme that… Read More

February 22, 2023 @ 5:57 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) have tightened requirements for platforms in the crypto exchange sector. The CSA is an entity that works to coordinate regulation with the various provincial and territorial securities regulators. Unlike the US Securities and Exchange Commission, it does not have federal… Read More

February 22, 2023 @ 11:44 am By JD Alois  |  

  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Investor Advisory Committee (IAC), has scheduled a meeting to take place on Thursday, March 2nd, 2023. The IAC was created under the D0dd-Frank Act and is designed to advise the Commission on initiatives aimed at representing individual investors,… Read More

February 22, 2023 @ 10:49 am By Omar Faridi  |  

New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) Superintendent Adrienne A. Harris recently announced that the Department has “enhanced its ability to detect fraud and other illegal activity among New York State-regulated entities engaged in virtual currency activity through new insider trading and market manipulation… Read More

February 22, 2023 @ 8:10 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a report on the financial stability risks of Decentralised Finance (DeFi). DeFi is commonly “used to describe services in crypto-asset markets that aim to replicate some functions of the traditional financial system in a supposedly decentralized manner – though… Read More

February 21, 2023 @ 10:55 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) launched a consultation on the proposed requirements “for operators of virtual asset trading platforms.” Under a new licensing regime to take effect on 1 June 2023, all centralized virtual asset trading platforms “carrying on business in Hong Kong or… Read More

February 21, 2023 @ 8:05 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is seeking views on “what regulatory change might help the UK’s asset management industry innovate, better support the investors it serves and boost competition.” The UK is a leading center for asset management, “with over £11 trillion of assets managed… Read More

February 20, 2023 @ 4:54 pm By JD Alois  |  

Earlier this month, the House Subcommittee on Capital Markets, part of the House Financial Services Committee, held a hearing on Empowering Entrepreneurs. The specific topic was “Removing Barriers to Capital Access for Small Businesses.” As everyone should understand, small businesses create around half of the… Read More

February 19, 2023 @ 7:35 pm By JD Alois  |  

As the world knows, most central banks in the developed world are investigating the benefits and risks of issuing digital currency. While the bulk of transactions is already handled electronically today, the thesis is that by incorporating new technology, a digital currency – or digital… Read More

February 19, 2023 @ 6:02 pm By JD Alois  |  

The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) now offers a “crypto scam tracker” that aims to help pinpoint bogus crypto offerings and scams. Announced last week, the tracker currently lists 36 individual scams. According to the DFPI, the scams are identified from complaints… Read More

February 18, 2023 @ 12:40 pm By JD Alois  |  

Paul Anthony Pierce, a former NBA pro and sports analyst, has agreed to settle with the Securities and Exchange Commission for promoting EMAX tokens on social media. As was previously reported, the same digital asset embroiled influencer Kim Kardashian who had to cough up a… Read More

February 17, 2023 @ 10:19 am By JD Alois  |  

Last spring, HM Treasury, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) collaborated to create the Joint Regulatory Oversight Committee as part of the UK Government’s commitment to boost open banking. This committee convened the Strategic… Read More

February 16, 2023 @ 5:29 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is continuing its crypto crackdown filing charges againstTerraform Labs PTE Ltd and founder Do Hyeong Kwon. The firm is based in Singapore but the Commission has not been shy about pursuing crypto scofflaws anywhere in the world. Kwon was… Read More

February 16, 2023 @ 3:03 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has charged Vista Network Technologies and its CEO, Armen Temurian, with “fraudulent solicitation and misappropriation of customers’ digital asset commodities.” The CFTC claims that the defendants scammed over $7 million in Bitcoin and Ether from erstwhile customers. The CFTC described… Read More

February 16, 2023 @ 10:07 am By JD Alois  |  

This past week, the Senate Banking Committee held a hearing to discuss the topic of digital assets.  As should be abundantly clear by now, support, or lack of support, is now largely falling along party lines. Both sides desire consumer protection and understand the need… Read More

February 16, 2023 @ 9:16 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Binance, the world’s largest digital currency exchange, is reportedly expecting to pay monetary penalties in order to settle US regulatory and law-enforcement investigations of its operations. This, according to the company’s CSO (as reported by the WSJ). Over the past five years, Binance has managed… Read More

February 15, 2023 @ 6:54 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has used its powers “to enter and inspect several sites around Leeds suspected of hosting illegally operated crypto ATMs.” The FCA gathered evidence from several sites “around the city as part of a joint operation with West Yorkshire Police’s Digital… Read More

February 14, 2023 @ 3:11 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

More than $115 million in refunds are being “sent to consumers nationwide” as a result of a 2018 action the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice brought against MoneyGram (NASDAQ: MGI) for “failing to crack down on scammers using their payment system.”… Read More