Politics, Legal & Regulation

March 24, 2022 @ 12:53 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that Martha Legg Miller, Director of the Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation (OASB), is leaving the agency at the end of April. The SEC added that Sebastian Gomez Abero will serve as Acting… Read More

March 24, 2022 @ 11:18 am By JD Alois  |  

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) says it has received inquiries from derivatives clearing organizations (DCO) or potential DCO applicants seeking to offer clearing of margined products directly to participants, such that participants would not clear through a futures commission merchant intermediary a non-intermediated model… Read More

March 23, 2022 @ 6:28 pm By JD Alois  |  

The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) is scrutinizing peer-to-peer lending. NASAA is the association and lobbying group that represents state and provincial regulators in North America. NASAA has issued a proposal on P2P lending and is seeking public comment on the Statement of Policy… Read More

March 22, 2022 @ 10:27 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

To properly address the stricter compliance rules resulting from extended sanctions and resulting increase in money laundering activity, ComplyAdvantage, an international data firm providing embedded counter risk intelligence to find, mitigate and stop financial crimes and Resistant AI, an AI and machine learning company providing… Read More

March 22, 2022 @ 5:23 pm By JD Alois  |  

The House Committee on Financial Services has updated its schedule of hearings for the month of March. Next week, for Fintech insiders there will be several hearings of interest as follows: March 30 at 10:00 AM ET: The Task Force on Artificial Intelligence will convene… Read More

March 21, 2022 @ 11:30 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Financial regulators in China, including the nation’s reserve bank, and the Zhejiang provincial government are reportedly supporting “controllable risks” in the country’s digital commerce hub in order to promote Fintech innovation. This, according to a government update reviewed by the SCMP. The People’s Bank of… Read More

March 21, 2022 @ 7:26 pm By JD Alois  |  

Binance has sent a letter to the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) telling the regulator it is committed to ceasing opening new accounts in Ontario. Last year, Binance Canada announced it would cease providing crypto services in Ontario. The OSC allows crypto exchanges to provide trading in… Read More

March 21, 2022 @ 5:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

Today the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed new rules to compel publicly traded firms to disclose climate-related information. The policy shift has long been anticipated and messaged by the Commission under the leadership of Chairman Gary Gensler. According to the SEC, new rules would… Read More

March 21, 2022 @ 9:37 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Surfshark, a VPN firm based in Lithuania, has reported “a 3500% surge in Russia sales since February 24 – the day Russia invaded Ukraine.” According to cybersecurity firm Surfshark’s analysis, the Russian telecoms regulator (Roskomnadzor) has forced Google to “delist more than 36,000 URLs that… Read More

March 21, 2022 @ 8:06 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Townsend Lansing, Head of Product at CoinShares and Nick du Cros, the Head of Compliance and Regulatory affairs at CoinShares, have noted that there appears to have been “quite a bit of confusion” in the digital assets community recently regarding the proposals in the EU… Read More

March 21, 2022 @ 8:04 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Lithuania’s borderless financing platform Debitum confirms that the ongoing war in Ukraine is affecting everyone. Debitum is “strongly against” the Russian aggression and they are supporting their partners and their employees based in Ukraine. For investors, “who purchased claim rights related to borrowers from Ukraine,… Read More

March 20, 2022 @ 8:58 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

PeerBerry notes that their business partners have assessed the changes in interest rates in international markets and have “made appropriate changes in the interest rates on loans offered to invest in on the PeerBerry platform – the interest rates are slightly increasing.” Interest rates on… Read More

March 19, 2022 @ 11:17 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission‘s (SEC)  41st Annual Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation will take place as a virtual gathering once again. Pre-covid, the event was held in person either in Washington, DC or at another venue around the US. For this year’s… Read More

March 18, 2022 @ 4:02 pm By JD Alois  |  

Yesterday, Senator Elizabeth Warren, along with several other Democrat Senators, introduced legislation that is designed to crack down on Russian “Elites” or oligarchs, who may utilize crypto to evade the economic sanctions that have been applied by many countries around the world. The Digital Asset… Read More

March 18, 2022 @ 12:04 pm By JD Alois  |  

Congressman Tom Emmer distributed a series of Tweets this past week that is emblematic of the frustration pertaining to the digital asset industry and a recalcitrant Securities and Exchange Commission when it comes to fostering a productive regulatory environment. Included in the Tweets, the Congressman… Read More

March 18, 2022 @ 8:00 am By Omar Faridi  |  

We recently caught up with Brian Reisbeck, the newly appointed Chief Compliance Officer at Coinme, a cryptocurrency cash exchange in the United States. Brian Reisbeck has joined Coinme as CCO and will help lead the firm’s compliance program and guide the organization in “maintaining regulatory… Read More

March 17, 2022 @ 3:56 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Bank of Canada has announced a partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on a project to investigate the potential of issuing a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Some time ago, the US Federal Reserve made a similar announcement of a project with… Read More

March 17, 2022 @ 10:05 am By JD Alois  |  

As inflation rages higher, the Bank of England announced it was raising its benchmark rate by 25 basis points to 0.75%. One voting member preferred to leave rates unchanged. The BoE said that developments since the February Report are likely to accentuate both the peak… Read More

March 17, 2022 @ 9:06 am By JD Alois  |  

OTC Markets Group (OTCQX: OTCM), a marketplace for domestic and international securities, states that it has signed an agreement to acquire the assets of Blue Sky Data Corp, a provider of equity and debt compliance data regarding state “Blue Sky” securities rules and regulations. Many… Read More

March 16, 2022 @ 10:54 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

MoneyGram has agreed to pay an $8.25 million fine related to its failure to properly monitor local storefronts’ transfer activity to China. The company confirmed today it agreed to the settlement with the New York Department of Financial Services through a consent order. The company… Read More