Politics, Legal & Regulation

February 13, 2022 @ 1:15 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

London’s SETL and New York’s Digital Asset recently entered into a partnership to develop a protocol that may be used by regulated institutions to introduce interoperable tokens. The protocol, modelled on the Regulated Liability Network (RLN) initiative first introduced by Citibank’s Tony McLaughlin, will be… Read More

February 12, 2022 @ 11:40 am By JD Alois  |  

Last week, the SEC Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee (SBCFAC) held a meeting to discuss the definition of an accredited investor. As CI has frequently covered in the past, this definition determines who may, or who may not, participate in Reg D securities offerings…. Read More

February 12, 2022 @ 9:49 am By Omar Faridi  |  

BlockFi Inc. is reportedly getting ready to pay $100 million in order to settle allegations from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and State regulators that it had been illegally offering a product that pays clients really high interest rates to lend out their… Read More

February 11, 2022 @ 5:43 pm By JD Alois  |  

In a bit of good news for the crypto mining sector and staking platforms, it is being reported that crypto miners and stakers will not have to report transactions to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The news was posted by Bloomberg who stated it… Read More

February 10, 2022 @ 5:44 pm By JD Alois  |  

Earlier this week, the House Committee on Financial Services held a hearing on stablecoins or digital assets tied to fiat currency. The Hearing was driven by the recent report by the President’s Working Group (PWG) on Financial Markets. While stablecoins are not (yet) systemically worrisome,… Read More

February 10, 2022 @ 9:15 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Mark Zuckerberg‘s Meta is teaming up Fintech Chime in order to go after (alleged) Nigerian scammers that the firms claim have been using social media channels to trick or deceive unsuspecting users out of their hard-earned cash. As reported by Newsweek, the lawsuit marks the… Read More

February 10, 2022 @ 8:22 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is watching. It likely will not be long before the first enforcement action against a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) issuer is announced. The 80+ enforcement actions the regulators have taken to date on cryptocurrency, digital assets, and Initial Coin… Read More

February 9, 2022 @ 6:07 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Acting Chair Martin J. Gruenberg released on February 7, 2022 the following statement and summary of the FDIC’s priorities for the coming year: “The FDIC’s core mission is to maintain stability and public confidence in the U.S. financial system…. Read More

February 9, 2022 @ 8:35 am By Omar Faridi  |  

On August 2, 2016, Bitfinex – notably one of the largest virtual currency exchanges in the world – experienced a massive security breach. In a span of fewer than two hours, around 120,000 Bitcoins (BTC) had been stolen from Bitfinex and spread across 2,075 different… Read More

February 8, 2022 @ 11:58 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that it will transition away from using a third-party service for facial recognition in order to help authenticate individuals creating new online accounts. The transition will take place over the coming weeks in order to “prevent larger disruptions… Read More

February 7, 2022 @ 10:56 pm By JD Alois  |  

The House Committee on Financial Services will hold a virtual hearing tomorrow (February 8) with a single witness scheduled to testify. The hearing entitled, “Digital Assets and the Future of Finance: The President’s Working Group on Financial Markets’ Report on Stablecoins” will involve the testimony… Read More

February 7, 2022 @ 5:32 pm By JD Alois  |  

Dating or Defrauding. Catfishing has become a thing in the online dating world. While at times, Catfishing may be as simple as using a photo that does not represent the person in question at all, in some instances it has been taken to an extreme… Read More

February 7, 2022 @ 5:04 pm By JD Alois  |  

The SEC Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee will hold a meeting later this week (February 10) where it will address an important topic when it comes to access to capital for early-stage firms. Following an update from the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation,… Read More

February 7, 2022 @ 10:24 am By JD Alois  |  

FTX, a fast-growing digital asset marketplace, has posted “key principles” to ensure investor protection. FTX operates globally but has a US-facing marketplace for crypto trading. Federal regulators are poised to add new regulations for platforms that engage in digital asset trading and SEC Chairman Gary… Read More

February 6, 2022 @ 10:54 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The team at UK’s TaxScouts confirms that their crowdfunding campaign has finally come to an end. Our crowdfund has finally come to an end! We raised £2,925,089 – over 290% of our original target 🎉 We want to say thank you to all our new… Read More

February 6, 2022 @ 4:57 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) recently noted that banks in the Southeast Asian country have “substantially” implemented the additional measures to enhance the security of virtual banking announced on 19 January 2022. The measures, taken together, offer a “significant” added layer of security to… Read More

February 6, 2022 @ 3:17 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Four managers working at Germany’s digital bank N26 are reportedly being investigated by public prosecutors regarding suspicions about (allegedly) fraudulent client accounts, the Handelsblatt newspaper confirmed on Friday (February 4, 2022). Criminals or bad actors have been suspected of opening a fairly large number of… Read More

February 5, 2022 @ 5:22 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

HM Treasury, which is the UK government’s economic and finance ministry (maintaining control over public spending, setting the direction of the nation’s economic policy and working to achieve strong and sustainable economic growth), announced that they have begun the search for a new Chairperson of… Read More

February 5, 2022 @ 12:26 pm By JD Alois  |  

Yesterday, the US Department of Treasury issued a statement on illicit activity in the “high-value art market.” More specifically, activities that include money laundering and terrorist financing risks. The study found that while there is some evidence of money laundering risk in the high-value art… Read More

February 4, 2022 @ 3:20 pm By Martin Cheek  |  

The role that cryptocurrency plays in money laundering is hotly debated. Some say that the anonymity afforded by currencies like Bitcoin makes it easier for criminals to shift funds undetected, while others argue that the blockchain and it’s unchangeable, publicly visible ledger actually provide far… Read More