Politics, Legal & Regulation

April 20, 2021 @ 5:41 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Sheng-Wen Cheng with allegations of defrauding investors in the offering of equity and digital asset securities, according to a complaint filed by the regulator. According to the SEC’s complaint, from approximately August 2017 to June 2018, Cheng… Read More

April 20, 2021 @ 2:59 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has settled charges against Jozef Gherman of Florida and J Squared LLC for making misleading statements or omitting material facts in connection with soliciting more than $300,000 from more than 40 individuals to invest in digital assets. According to… Read More

April 20, 2021 @ 11:25 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee, has scheduled a meeting for Friday, April 30, 2021, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (ET). This will be a virtual meeting and the event will be open to the public via a… Read More

April 19, 2021 @ 8:58 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Financial regulators in South Korea are reportedly discussing the launch of an updated regulatory framework for overseas remittances made by investors. These traders are allegedly trying to make huge profits by capitalizing on Bitcoin price gaps found on different cryptocurrency exchanges based in Korea and… Read More

April 19, 2021 @ 10:11 am By JD Alois  |  

As UK Fintech week kicks off today, Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer addressed members of the industry outlining proposals designed to “enhance the UK’s competitive advantage in Fintech.”  This includes regulatory support and reforms to help Fintech firms grow. The Chancellor also commented on… Read More

April 19, 2021 @ 9:28 am By JD Alois  |  

The Bank of England and HM Treasury have jointly announced the creation of a task force to explore a central bank digital currency or CBDC. The CBDC will be a digital currency issued by the Bank of England for use by consumers as well as… Read More

April 18, 2021 @ 10:17 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

China’s Ant Group is looking into potential ways for billionaire Jack Ma to make an exit as Beijing continues to increase its pressure and scrutiny of Fintech businesses in the country, according to a report from Reuters which cited sources familiar with the matter. According… Read More

April 18, 2021 @ 5:51 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

A senior Bank of Japan (BoJ) official has stated that China’s digital renminbi will not be able to pose a threat to the US dollar’s dominant position as the global reserve currency. As reported by Bloomberg, Kazushige Kamiyama, who heads the BoJ’s payment systems division… Read More

April 17, 2021 @ 11:00 am By Omar Faridi  |  

On April 15, 2021, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned 16 individuals and 16 entities for “attempting to undermine and influence the 2020 US presidential election,” blockchain security firm CipherTrace noted in a blog post. CipherTrace also mentioned… Read More

April 16, 2021 @ 7:12 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The American Fintech Council has reportedly expanded to include over 75 members. The Council has also announced several new leadership initiatives, according to a release. As noted in the announcement, the newly formed committees will be including the Regulatory Technology Committee and Legal Advisory Committee… Read More

April 16, 2021 @ 1:51 pm By JD Alois  |  

Earlier today, the official newspaper of Turkey published new regulations issued by the Central Bank of Turkey. According to the new rules, crypto-assets may no longer be used as a form of payments or transfers as of April 30, 2021. According to Reuters, Ahmed Faruk… Read More

April 16, 2021 @ 11:30 am By Howard Marks  |  

On March 11th, Beeple became the third highest-paid living artist with a $69M sale of one of his works as an NFT, a non-fungible token on the blockchain. This sale is one of many at the front of NFTs, blockchain’s latest hype machine of digital… Read More

April 16, 2021 @ 8:24 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Dr. Joshua Ellul, Chairman of Malta Digital Innovation Authority; Expert Evaluator at European Commission; Director of Centre for DLT at University of Malta, has shared a preprint for a paper that his team plans to present in June 2021 on a “pragmatic” approach to the… Read More

April 15, 2021 @ 10:11 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, Maxine Waters, and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Sherrod Brown, have jointly announced a new round of hearings that will see the CEOs of the top US banks testify in front of each… Read More

April 15, 2021 @ 4:55 pm By JD Alois  |  

In a blog post today, Robinhood responded to an attempt by the State of Massachusetts Securities Division to revoke Robinhood’s broker-dealer license in the state thus blocking its ability to operate. Robinhood said they have filed in Massachusetts State Court a complaint and motion for… Read More

April 14, 2021 @ 3:21 pm By JD Alois  |  

In a floor vote yesterday, the US Senate approved the selection of Gary Gensler as the next Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The current SEC Commissioners joined in welcoming the new Chair stating: “A warm congratulations to Gary Gensler on his Senate confirmation… Read More

April 14, 2021 @ 7:36 am By JD Alois  |  

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce has posted an update to her Token Safe Habor proposal. Back in February 2020, Commissioner Peirce revealed her proposal in an effort to create a regulatory environment that supported Fintech innovation while acknowledging the unique characteristics of digital assets. Since the… Read More

April 12, 2021 @ 9:56 pm By Lee Schneider  |  

A murder of crows.  A pride of lions. A school of fish.  A conundrum of NFTs.  At least that’s how it feels when faced with the ever-growing craze for non-fungible tokens.  Here are five things about NFTs that may surprise you. They’re just another type… Read More

April 11, 2021 @ 7:50 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Cryptocurrency intelligence firm CipherTrace is reportedly using Chainlink to release CipherTrace DeFi Compli: a compliance solution enabling decentralized or non-custodial exchanges (DEXs) and other DeFi apps to adhere to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions requirements. As part of its decentralized finance (DeFi)… Read More

April 11, 2021 @ 3:36 pm By JD Alois  |  

Several months ago, FinCEN submitted for publication in the Federal Register its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding certain transactions that involve virtual currency or digital assets. FinCEN or the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is a bureau of the US Department of the Treasury that… Read More