Politics, Legal & Regulation

July 26, 2021 @ 3:20 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Updated plans to put the United Kingdom at the front of the global innovation race have been shared by the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, the UK Research and Innovation unit as well as other organizations and individuals. Released on July 22, 2021,… Read More

July 26, 2021 @ 12:28 pm By JD Alois  |  

Recently, a report was published regarding the European Commission distributing European (ESIF) funds through European crowdfunding platforms. Obviously, if this occurs it will be a boon for both platforms and issuers. The report was written by Karsten Wenzlaff, Ana Odorovic and Ronald Kleverlaan, along with consulting… Read More

July 26, 2021 @ 11:14 am By JD Alois  |  

US Senator Gary Peters, Chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has initiated bipartisan legislation targeting cybersecurity threats including the usage of cryptocurrency and payment of ransom. The bill,  the DHS Industrial Control Systems Capabilities Enhancement Act, would require the Cybersecurity and… Read More

July 26, 2021 @ 9:49 am By JD Alois  |  

Tether, the largest stablecoin by market cap, is said to be a target of a criminal investigation in the US. According to a report in Bloomberg, the US Department of Justice is investigating whether, or not, executives committed bank fraud. Rumblings have long swirled around… Read More

July 26, 2021 @ 9:21 am By JD Alois  |  

The Coalition for a Digital Economy (Coadec), an organization created to promote the UK as the top European startup ecosystem, has published a paper on the fast-growing Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) sector of Fintech. Entitled Regulate Credit Now, Reform it Later, Coadec says the credit… Read More

July 25, 2021 @ 5:25 pm By JD Alois  |  

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a warning regarding CoinBurp and the pending issuance of the $Burp Token. CoinBurp states that it currently operates a CeFi platform, but they are developing an ETH-based DeFi wallet. While the name alone may cause some potential… Read More

July 25, 2021 @ 2:04 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Compliant crypto firms realize or know what it takes to keep their platforms safe: They have to carry out KYC checks on clients, monitor transactions for counterparty risk, and submit suspicious activity reports or SARs when they see suspicious activity, Chainalysis notes in a blog… Read More

July 25, 2021 @ 11:44 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Azimut Group, with Azimut Investments S.A., is reportedly the first asset management firm based in Luxembourg to acquire authorization to manage digital assets strategies. With this further evidence of the Group’s innovation capabilities, Azimut confirmed that it will be introducing the AZ RAIF Digital Asset… Read More

July 25, 2021 @ 10:43 am By Omar Faridi  |  

In a keynote speech that focused on fraud and financial crime at a conference in Asia, Carmen Chu, Executive Director (Enforcement and AML), Hong Kong Monetary Authority, discussed anti-money laundering and financial crime risk issues and the ability of authorities to address these problems. While… Read More

July 24, 2021 @ 3:33 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Legal proceedings brought by European P2P lending platform Mintos have reportedly managed to recover investors’ money from Aforti “in full.” The Mintos team confirmed in an update, dated July 23, 2021, that all of Aforti’s outstanding investments and pending payments have “now been recovered in… Read More

July 23, 2021 @ 11:32 am By JD Alois  |  

The Texas State Securities Board is gunning for BlockFi – a leading crypto platform that raised $350 million earlier this year. According to the complaint, the SSB has scheduled a hearing with BlockFi this October to determine if a cease and desist will become effective…. Read More

July 22, 2021 @ 3:25 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged California resident Charlie Abujudeh with running microcap fraud schemes targeting retail investors. According to today’s complaint filed today in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Abujudeh was part of a group who between… Read More

July 22, 2021 @ 12:30 pm By JD Alois  |  

  Next week, the House Committee on Financial Services will hold a hearing on Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). This is not the first Congressional hearing on CBDCs, nor will it be the last. The concept of a digital dollar, issued by a central bank,… Read More

July 22, 2021 @ 11:19 am By JD Alois  |  

This past week, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler addressed the American Bar Association’s Derivatives and Futures Law Committee. Included in prepared remarks was a warning to crypto exchanges and their digital offerings. While most US-based crypto marketplaces have learned that adhering to securities… Read More

July 22, 2021 @ 10:47 am By JD Alois  |  

Natwest is the next shoe to drop in the ongoing purge of transfers to Binance, according to a report by Yahoo. Recently, Santander and Barclays issued statements that they would no longer facilitate transfers from UK customers to the Binance platform. This all stems from a… Read More

July 21, 2021 @ 4:03 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed fraud charges against Rahulkumar M. Patel regarding an offer of securities that was conducted on an investment crowdfunding site. According to the SEC, Patel created a company DNA Lodging East Hartford LLC, to renovate and reopen a… Read More

July 21, 2021 @ 11:02 am By JD Alois  |  

Yesterday, the European Commission announced an update to the European Union’s anti-money laundering and countering terrorism financing (AML/CFT) rules. Part of the update is a requirement that anonymous crypto asset wallets will be prohibited. Additionally, the Commission is creating a new  EU AML Authority (AMLA)…. Read More

July 20, 2021 @ 9:03 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced five people who will serve on Chair Gary Gensler’s policy staff under Director Heather Slavkin Corzo. Corporation Finance Counsel Corey Klemmer was an analyst at the AFL-CIO’s Office of Investment. She will focus on ensuring policies allow investors… Read More

July 20, 2021 @ 7:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

  In 2018, BOX Digital Markets and tZERO entered into a joint venture that was predicted to become the world’s first regulated exchange for trading security tokens.  At the time of the announcement, it was reported that tZERO would manage the tech stack, maintenance, and… Read More

July 20, 2021 @ 5:47 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this week filed a settled action against UBS Financial Services related to compliance failures for sales of a volatility-linked exchange-traded product (ETP). It marks the sixth case for the agency’s ETP Initiative. The ETP was designed to track short-term… Read More