Politics, Legal & Regulation

June 23, 2021 @ 4:33 pm By JD Alois  |  

Founder of McAfee Antivirus and staunch crypto-advocate John McAfee was found dead in his prison cell in Barcelona, Spain earlier today according to a report in El Pais. McAfee had been arrested on charges of tax evasion along with conspiracy to commit commodities and securities… Read More

June 23, 2021 @ 11:17 am By JD Alois  |  

Canada has long held a fragmented approach to online capital formation where securities crowdfunding is regulated at the provincial level. Obviously, this creates unnecessary friction to an emerging sector of Fintech that facilitates capital formation for early-stage ventures. Today, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) has… Read More

June 23, 2021 @ 8:15 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

Recent Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) statements on the growth of cryptocurrency ownership among adults in the United Kingdom highlight the need to provide more support and protection for those investors Ziglu founder and CEO Mark Hipperson said. A UK-based money app, Ziglu allows users to… Read More

June 22, 2021 @ 7:44 pm By Priyanka Pani  |  

In a major crackdown, the Iranian police have seized 7,000 crypto mining machines blamed for massive power outages in the country, as per its state media. The police  7,000 computer miners were seized in an abandoned factory in the west of the capital city of… Read More

June 22, 2021 @ 4:48 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission has settled charges against a software provider and its CEO for misleading investors about an unregistered offer and sale of digital asset securities. Loci, Inc. and its CEO John Wise allegedly violated the antifraud provisions of Section 10(b) of the… Read More

June 22, 2021 @ 4:14 pm By JD Alois  |  

Brian  Korn has been a regular suspect on the Fintech trail for years. From the early days of online lending and securities crowdfunding, to the more recent rise of digital assets, Korn has provided counsel to emerging firms seeking to benefit from the Fintech revolution…. Read More

June 22, 2021 @ 8:02 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Swiss Federal Council, the seven-member executive council that constitutes the federal government of the Swiss Confederation and serves as the collective head of state and government of Switzerland, announced recently that the DLT Act has come “fully into force” and the agency also  issued… Read More

June 21, 2021 @ 10:58 am By JD Alois  |  

Late last month, the House Committee on Financial Services held a hearing addressing the topic of capital formation and the state of the US initial public offering market. While several witnesses focused on the rapid rise of SPACs, one witness pointed to the precipitous decline… Read More

June 19, 2021 @ 2:33 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

SendSpend, the remittance and wallet app, reveals that it has acquired the Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The company will now be able to issue digital money and offer cross-border remittance services from its UK head offices. SendSpend… Read More

June 18, 2021 @ 8:50 am By Omar Faridi  |  

UK-based VALK, the end-to-end digital transaction solution for private markets developed on Corda, has managed to secure a place in the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) regulatory sandbox. Established in 2016, the FCA regulatory sandbox is being offered to assist the financial services sector and… Read More

June 17, 2021 @ 6:07 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has obtained an asset freeze and other emergency relief, and filed fraud charges, against Ramiro Jose Sugranes, UCB Financial Advisers Inc., and UCB Financial Services Limited for their involvement in an alleged “cherry-picking” scheme. According to the SEC, Sugranes,… Read More

June 17, 2021 @ 12:11 pm By Chris Sloan  |  

In December 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a complaint in a New York federal court against Ripple Labs, Inc. and two of its executives alleging that Ripple had sold $1.3 billion in XRP cryptocurrency tokens in a series of unregistered securities offerings…. Read More

June 17, 2021 @ 11:19 am By JD Alois  |  

The UK Financial Conduct Authority has been tracking crypto holdings in the UK for some time now. Earlier today, the top securities regulator provided an update indicating the more people in the UK are now holding crypto in contrast to prior data. This is the… Read More

June 17, 2021 @ 10:37 am By JD Alois  |  

In a speech delivered at the Future of Fintech Conference, Tom Mutton – Director responsible for Central Bank Digital Currency at the Bank of England, provided an update on the progress of central bank-issued digital currency. According to Mutton, CBDCs are viewed by the bank… Read More

June 17, 2021 @ 7:26 am By Omar Faridi  |  

On June 7, 2021, the US Department of Justice announced that they had managed to seize 63.69 BTC (valued at around $2.5 million) of the 75 BTC ransom Colonial Pipeline was forced to pay to DarkSide. This ransom recovery is notably the very first undertaken… Read More

June 17, 2021 @ 12:03 am By JD Alois  |  

The ASEAN Financial Innovation Network (AFIN) has partnered with R3 to build and test central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). CBDCs have emerged as a hot topic of governmental innovation – fueled in part by the rise of stablecoins utilized as digital references of fiat currency…. Read More

June 16, 2021 @ 9:19 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

A real estate settlement services company has run afoul of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for not properly acting on security vulnerabilities when first aware of them. On June 15 the SEC said they have settled charges against First American Corporation for disclosure controls… Read More

June 16, 2021 @ 2:54 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

  State-chartered banks in Texas can provide virtual currency custody services if they have the proper safeguards in place, the Texas Department of Banking (TBD) said. Participating banks must have strong risk management protocols while also complying with applicable law An important aspect of the… Read More

June 16, 2021 @ 10:51 am By JD Alois  |  

The House Committee on Financial Services already has two current task forces addressing innovation in financial services. A Task Force on Fintech and a Task Force on Artificial Intelligence. Today, the Committee is adding a “Working Group” addressing Digital Assets. Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman… Read More

June 15, 2021 @ 1:50 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

EBA Clearing and Iberpay revealed on Tuesday (June 15, 2021) that they have introduced two interoperable services to handle messages and offer functionalities that comply with the updated SEPA Request-to-Pay Scheme (SRTP) developed by the European Payments Council (EPC). The introduction of these infrastructure services… Read More