Politics, Legal & Regulation

February 16, 2022 @ 5:42 pm By JD Alois  |  

Announced today, the Travel Rule Universal Solution Technology (TRUST) is an industry-embraced solution to comply with the FATF Travel Rule that targeted VASPs (virtual asset service providers) globally. Announced by founding members who include most of the biggest names in crypto, the Trust platform is… Read More

February 16, 2022 @ 11:53 am By JD Alois  |  

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) wants to make it easier for consumers to change the rules when it comes to consumer finance via a public petition service. According to a release, as of today members of the public can submit petitions for rulemaking directly… Read More

February 16, 2022 @ 9:28 am By JD Alois  |  

In a speech delivered to the European Parliament, Christine Lagarde, the President of the European Central Bank (ECB), stated that a decision on a digital Euro will be made by 2024. The ECB decided to launch the investigation phase of the digital euro project in… Read More

February 16, 2022 @ 8:31 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The team at European lender Mintos has shared updates about the latest actions taken in the case of GetBucks Botswana, GetBucks Zambia, and their guarantor – Luxembourg-headquartered firm MyBucks SA. GetBucks Botswana (Cashcorp Proprietary Limited, Firstcred Limited, TU Employee Benefits Proprietary Limited) and GetBucks Zambia… Read More

February 16, 2022 @ 1:35 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

Cryptocurrency regulations are evolving quickly around the globe as authorities respond to the growing risks posed by criminals exploiting the latest payment methods to mask and launder the profits from their crimes. According to William Je, founder and CEO of Hamilton Investment Management, this growth has warranted the introduction… Read More

February 15, 2022 @ 11:11 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (OJK) recently announced that they’re strictly prohibiting the nation’s financial services providers from marketing or facilitating the trading of cryptocurrencies. The Indonesian regulator has cautioned that the value of virtual currencies are subject to market fluctuations and investors need to be… Read More

February 14, 2022 @ 9:20 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

A report from PeerIQ notes that the official numbers are in and they’re not looking so great. Inflation, as measured by the CPI, surged at a higher than expected 7.5% annualized rate in January 2022. That’s the fastest rate of price increases since 1982. Expectations… Read More

February 14, 2022 @ 5:27 pm By JD Alois  |  

Commissioner Hester Peirce has once again come to the defense of a Fintech innovator pertaining to the settlement announced today in regards to BlockFi –  a large crypto platform. As was reported earlier, BlockFi must pay $100 million in penalties to both the SEC and… Read More

February 14, 2022 @ 4:05 pm By JD Alois  |  

BlockFi, a top crypto platform that provides crypto lending services, has settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission following an investigation into the company’s activities. The settlement was leaked last week and BlockFi will be paying a total $100 million penalties. There were no allegations… Read More

February 14, 2022 @ 10:57 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Stephen Palley. Partner, Anderson Kill. Chair, Technology, Media & Distributed Systems Group, noted that an FBI agent once told (with “false modesty to be sure”) that their biggest breaks often “come not from law enforcement genius but from mistakes by their targets.” Palley further noted… Read More

February 14, 2022 @ 9:33 am By JD Alois  |  

The UK Financial Conduct  Authority (FCA) has secured changes to consumer terms from popular buy now, pay later platforms, according to a statement from the regulator. The FCA states that terms in the contracts of Clearpay, Klarna, Laybuy, and Openpay have been “unclear” and “unfair.”… Read More

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