Politics, Legal & Regulation

May 25, 2021 @ 9:33 pm By JD Alois  |  

On Monday, May 24, the House Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets, part of the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing entitled “Going Public: SPACs, Direct Listings, Public Offerings, and the Need for Investor Protections.”  While the title of the hearing addressed… Read More

May 25, 2021 @ 8:12 am By JD Alois  |  

A UK court has rejected a plan to address mis-selling by sub-prime lender Amigo (AMGO.L) causing shares to sink by 50%. Amigo offers loans to individuals from £2,000 – £10,000 over terms between 12 and 60 months, with a maximum APR of 49.9%. In 2020,… Read More

May 24, 2021 @ 10:01 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Central Bank of Kuwait has issued a statement on crypto assets and their risks. Kuwait‘s reserve bank says that it aims to enhance financial awareness and intends to encourage the Kuwaiti banking sector to adopt socially responsible business practices. The Central Bank of Kuwait… Read More

May 24, 2021 @ 9:43 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The State Duma has recently acknowledged that amendments to the Civil Code (in Russia) that cryptocurrencies (or “digital monetary units”) may be considered “a contractual means” of conducting payments in the country, according to Pavel Krasheninnikov, Chairperson of the Duma Committee on Legislation, at the… Read More

May 24, 2021 @ 2:14 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Innovative Lending Platform Association (ILPA) has joined with multiple traditional financial services associations to advocate on behalf of implementing an API structure to mitigate fraud on lending. In a letter addressed to the Secretary of the Treasury, the Commissioner of the IRS and the… Read More

May 23, 2021 @ 11:33 am By Omar Faridi  |  

US Federal Reserve Chief Jerome Powell recently noted that cryptocurrencies pose significant risks to financial stability. Powell stated on Thursday (May 20, 2021) that greater regulation of crypto assets may be necessary. As reported by Reuters, the US Treasury Department cited concerns about wealthy people… Read More

May 23, 2021 @ 11:31 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Representative Mark Green, R-Tenn., recently became one of the first congressmen to profit on Dogecoin’s (DOGE) meteoric rise. Green reportedly made two purchases of DOGE of $1,000 and $15,000 each (as revealed in public disclosure forms). These digital asset investments added to Green’s extensive cryptocurrency… Read More

May 22, 2021 @ 6:59 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

x15ventures (x15), which is Commonwealth Bank of Australia‘s venture-scaling division, has introduced a stand-alone or independent platform for helping new digital initiatives and business owners with fulfilling regulatory, risk and compliance requirements – which are part of scaling operations. The “xStack” platform is based on… Read More

May 22, 2021 @ 10:09 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The reserve bank of Bahrain has shared its commentary on the work being done by retail banks to implement the infrastructure for compliance with the Bahrain Open Banking Framework (Bahrain OBF). This work was carried out after a grace period that allowed for implementation which… Read More

May 22, 2021 @ 8:51 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The team at BitOoda, a global digital asset financial technology and services platform offering risk management solutions, “best-execution” brokerage and market analysis, notes that in China, Vice Premier Liu He, in a meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Committee, had stated on Friday (May… Read More

May 21, 2021 @ 10:12 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will be postponing the implementation of strong customer authentication (SCA) rules by another 6 months in order to minimize disruption for individual consumers and merchants. First scheduled for release in September 2019, the SCA guidelines – which require a… Read More

May 21, 2021 @ 7:11 pm By JD Alois  |  

This coming Monday, May 24th, the House Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets will hold a hearing entitled Going Public: SPACs, Direct Listings, Public Offerings, and the Need for Investor Protections. The Subcommittee is part of the powerful House Committee on Financial Services… Read More

May 21, 2021 @ 5:54 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Sanctions research from blockchain security firm CipherTrace reveals that over 72,000 “unique” Iranian IP addresses have been linked to over 4.5 million “unique” Bitcoin (BTC) addresses. CipherTrace notes that since monitoring sanctions-related IP usage across the Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain network, they’ve been able to identify… Read More

May 21, 2021 @ 9:04 am By JD Alois  |  

Earlier this week, the UK Financial Conduct Authority issued a “Dear Chief Executive” letter to payment and e-money firms warning about adequate disclosure when it comes to affiliated risk and consumer money. Some Fintechs provide similar services as banks while not being fully regulated as… Read More

May 21, 2021 @ 8:25 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Norges Bank has released its Financial Infrastructure Report 2021 and Norges Bank Papers 2/2021, titled “Retail payment services 2020.” Norges Bank notes that there have been significantly fewer disruptions in the Norwegian financial infrastructure during the past few years, and the infrastructure has been working… Read More

May 20, 2021 @ 2:18 pm By JD Alois  |  

Earlier today, US Senator Sherrod Brown, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee,  issued a statement challenging the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to review federal bank charters approved for digital asset firms. In the last year of the Trump Administration, the OCC… Read More

May 19, 2021 @ 11:17 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) in the UK has long intermediated disagreements within the financial services sector including investment crowdfunding. A recent decision by the FOS has caused some concern amongst industry insiders as it may challenge the entire crowdfunding model based on the liability… Read More

May 18, 2021 @ 9:29 pm By JD Alois  |  

In a recent speech delivered by the Deputy Governor, Financial Stability, of the Bank of England, Sir Jon Cunliffe, the public official appeared to commit to the UK creating a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The Bank of England, like many other central banks, is… Read More

May 18, 2021 @ 8:09 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services are becoming increasingly popular across the globe. The BNPL market is valued at around £2.7 billion in the United Kingdom. Although postponing payments might appear to be useful for security and in many instances provides other benefits depending on… Read More

May 18, 2021 @ 9:35 am By JD Alois  |  

Judith Hartley, CEO of British Patient Capital – a subsidiary of the British Business Bank, has commented on the lack of UK institutional capital going into venture capital. British Patient Capital manages a £2.5 billion investment program that seeks to facilitate £5 billion of institutional… Read More