Politics, Legal & Regulation

July 9, 2021 @ 12:16 pm By JD Alois  |  

  As anticipated, the Biden Administration has issued an Executive Order that is said to promote competition in the US economy. The order is extensive and includes a list of 72 areas where Joe Biden seeks to change. Included in the list is net neutrality,… Read More

July 9, 2021 @ 11:29 am By JD Alois  |  

Following the announcement from Barclays that it would no longer allow transfers to the world’s largest crypto exchange Binance, Santander has announced it will do the same. As posted on the Santander website, the bank explains: We’re stopping payments to Binance for your protection We… Read More

July 8, 2021 @ 11:56 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

The European Union’s proposed Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) Regulation will bring new opportunities for crypto-asset service providers (CASP), the CEO of one such company believes. In the European Union, digital assets are currently regulated through a combination of the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD)… Read More

July 8, 2021 @ 8:02 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

On July 5, 2021, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) had completed its second 12-month review of the implementation of its updated Standards on virtual assets and virtual asset service providers or VASPs. A review from CipherTrace examines how different jurisdictions and the private sector… Read More

July 8, 2021 @ 1:31 pm By JD Alois  |  

The news regarding China’s crypto exit continues to cascade around the world as the second-largest economy puts the squeeze on Bitcoin mining, crypto trading, and other uses of crypto-assets. Just this week, it has been widely reported that the People’s Bank of China has demanded… Read More

July 8, 2021 @ 11:21 am By JD Alois  |  

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Banque de France (BdF) say the two agencies have successfully completed a test using central bank digital currency (CBDC) for a wholesale cross-border payment and settlement. Both jurisdictions have been known to be experimenting with CBDCs with the… Read More

July 8, 2021 @ 10:03 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF) has shared information on the “seizure” of virtual currency held by several different crypto wallets that are believed to be associated with donation campaigns “carried out by Hamas.” As noted in a report from Chainalysis, the seizure… Read More

July 8, 2021 @ 9:28 am By JD Alois  |  

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, has sent a letter to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler telling the securities regulator that crypto exchanges may be undermining the SEC’s mission of basic investor protections. Gensler, for his part, has publicly worried that crypto… Read More

July 7, 2021 @ 11:28 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

A group of local and regional representatives has thrown its support behind the European Union’s stance on regulating digital markets. During the June plenary session, the European Committee of the Regions (ECR) adopted an opinion supporting the European Commission’s intention to provide tougher regulation of… Read More

July 7, 2021 @ 5:18 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), a global financial institution that’s owned by reserve banks and aims to “foster international monetary and financial cooperation and serves as a bank for central banks,” notes that advancements in technology, along with rising demand for digital payment methods… Read More

July 7, 2021 @ 5:16 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a trader at a Canadian-based asset management firm in an extensive front-running scheme that netted family members close to $4 million. For more than six years Sean Wygovsky allegedly traded in his family members’ accounts at brokerage firms… Read More

July 7, 2021 @ 2:16 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Parallax Health Sciences and two of its executives for misleading statements about its readiness to battle COVID-19. CEO Paul Arena and CTO Nathaniel Bradley were also charged. Trading in Parallax common stock was temporarily halted on April 10,… Read More

July 7, 2021 @ 12:22 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The New Payments Architecture (NPA) will aim to offer various benefits for businesses and personal clients residing in the United Kingdom, which may assist with improving the way they control their professional and personal transactions while creating more innovation opportunities. The adoption of the ISO… Read More

July 6, 2021 @ 9:03 am By JD Alois  |  

At the end of last month, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced that Binance Markets Limited was no longer permitted to undertake any regulated activity in the UK. Binance Markets is part of the broader Binance Group – a company that powers the largest… Read More

July 5, 2021 @ 11:46 am By JD Alois  |  

Klarna, a top European Fintech, is under investigation by the Swedish regulator Finansinspektionen for a possible security breach and transgression of the bank secrecy act. In a statement by Finansinspektionen, the financial regulator referenced an “IT incident” that took place in May 2021 where customers… Read More

July 4, 2021 @ 12:28 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Bank Negara Malaysia, the nation’s reserve bank, recently revealed that it received 29 different applications for a virtual bank license under the Financial Services Act 2013 and the Islamic Financial Services Act 2013. This has come after a 6-month application period, which came to an… Read More

July 2, 2021 @ 12:42 pm By JD Alois  |  

Yesterday, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak outlined his vision for financial services in the UK. The Chancellor highlighted his goal of maintaining, and growing, the UK’s prominence in the finance industry – including the Fintech sector. Topics covered targeting Fintech included distributed ledger… Read More

July 2, 2021 @ 10:32 am By JD Alois  |  

The Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has outlined his vision for financial services in the 2021 Mansion House speech. Charting the roadmap forward post-Brexit, the Chancellor noted the importance of financial services for the UK economy. Financial services currently employs around 2.3 million people… Read More

July 2, 2021 @ 9:47 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand is the next jurisdiction to target the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. According to a posting by the securities regulator, the Thai SEC has filed a criminal complaint against Binance for operating a digital asset business without a license…. Read More

July 2, 2021 @ 12:33 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

In late June, Scotland Yard seized more than $158 million in Bitcoin as part of a money-laundering investigation. London’s Metropolitan Police said that total was more than double the amount of cash seized in all of 2020 and is the biggest crypto take in UK… Read More