Politics, Legal & Regulation

December 14, 2020 @ 10:49 am By JD Alois  |  

The European Commission (EC) has come to an agreement on the €7.5 billion budget for the Digital Europe program. The goal is to “improve Europe’s competitiveness in the global digital economy and achieve technological sovereignty.” The EC said it seeks to support the digital transformation… Read More

December 14, 2020 @ 10:09 am By JD Alois  |  

In a speech this week delivered at the China Fintech Global Summit in Shenzen, Liu Yingbin, Senior Assistant President, Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) said that Hong Kong can help mainland Chinese Fintechs go global. Yingbin touted Hong Kong’s Fintech ecosystem which has emerged as… Read More

December 13, 2020 @ 7:17 pm By JD Alois  |  

Russian hackers have apparently breached defenses at the US Department of Treasury monitoring emails for months, according to a report. Treasury was not alone, according to Reuters, the US Department of Commerce reportedly issued a statement on the breach to their systems: “We have asked… Read More

December 12, 2020 @ 5:36 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has promoted Sheldon Mills to serving as Executive Director, Consumers and Competition. The financial regulator confirmed that the role was recently created to fulfill various requirements. The FCA noted that the post was created in November 2020 when the… Read More

December 11, 2020 @ 9:36 am By JD Alois  |  

The United States District Court, Southern District of California, has filed a final judgment against Blockvest LLC and founder Reginald Buddy Ringgold. The order requires the defendants to pay a civil penalty of $332,370.99 along with a disgorgement of ill-gotten gains of $363,726.91 – including… Read More

December 10, 2020 @ 2:33 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Michael Arrington, the Founder of Arrington XRP Capital, has pointed out that a new privacy-oriented digital currency just launched its mainnet. According to Arrington, this newly launched project, called MobileCoin, appears to have ties to chat app Signal. A new privacy coin just went mainnet… Read More

December 10, 2020 @ 1:50 pm By Milena Naitoh  |  

Digital lending platforms have made strong inroads in Southeast Asia over the past few years. In 2016 alone, peer-to-peer (P2P) business lending generated US$115.01 million—more than half of Southeast Asia’s total alternative financing market that year.  This growth can be attributed to a combination of… Read More

December 10, 2020 @ 11:52 am By JD Alois  |  

The US Department of Treasury has published the annual FSOC report. The Financial Stability Oversight Council convenes every year to review potential systemic risks to the financial services industry. FSOC members include the top financial services regulators including the SEC, the Fed, the OCC, etc…. Read More

December 10, 2020 @ 11:16 am By JD Alois  |  

The US Department of Treasury has posted the annual Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) report and financial innovation is a prominent part of the document. FSOC was established by the Dodd-Frank Act and is charged with three primary purposes: To identify risks to the financial… Read More

December 9, 2020 @ 11:22 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

  One of China’s top banking regulators has called into question the power of the nation’s large Fintech firms and suggested taking “timely and targeted measures to prevent new systemic risks.” As reported by CNBC, the Chinese official’s comments seem to indicate that more regulations… Read More

December 9, 2020 @ 8:44 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Amir Bruno Elmaani, aka “Bruno Block,” for conducting an illegal securities offering in an initial coin offering (ICO) and for a plan to profit by issuing millions of unauthorized tokens for himself at no cost and selling… Read More

December 8, 2020 @ 7:24 pm By JD Alois  |  

Carla Carriveau has recently joined CoinList as their new Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel (the previous GC, Georgia Quinn is now at Anchorage). Prior to joining CoinList, Carriveau was at Forge.  Carriveau entered the fray with an interesting blog post today addressing expectations for… Read More

December 8, 2020 @ 4:41 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada), which supports a financial innovation ecosystem offering education, market intelligence, stewardship, networking and funding opportunities, has reminded industry participants that there’s only about a week remaining to provide comments on a consultation on technology risks in the… Read More

December 8, 2020 @ 11:37 am By JD Alois  |  

  The Digital Finance Forum has rebranded as Fintech Founders, according to a note from the group. Founded and Chaired by LendInvest founder Christian Faes, the name change is said to indicate the group’s wider, scaled-up ambitions to become a network of influence and authority… Read More

December 7, 2020 @ 4:06 pm By JD Alois  |  

Blockstack, a digital asset issuer that pursued a Reg A+ offering for its tokens (STX), believes the token is sufficiently decentralized to no longer be considered a security, according to a memo drafted by Blockstack’s lawyers. Blockstack was the first token issuer to have a… Read More

December 6, 2020 @ 6:39 pm By JD Alois  |  

  This past week, House Representative Rashida Tlaib, along with Representatives Jesús “Chuy” García and Chairman of Task Force on Financial Technology Stephen Lynch, introduced the Stablecoin Tethering and Bank Licensing Enforcement (STABLE) Act (HR 8827). The goal of the legislation is to protect consumers… Read More

December 6, 2020 @ 4:24 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The team at HASHR8 Inc., a cryptocurrency mining and media firm that aims to support the “decentralized growth” of hashrate (or computing power used to secure digital currency networks) while enhancing the security of blockchains, has confirmed that Bitcoin has broken record highs and sentiment… Read More

December 5, 2020 @ 4:46 pm By JD Alois  |  

Yesterday, the Democratic members of the Committee on Financial Services, led by Chairwoman Maxine Waters, published a letter addressed to President-elect Joseph Biden demanding that the incoming administration should prioritize the elimination of certain rules and regulations on day one of his presidency. In a… Read More

December 5, 2020 @ 10:00 am By JD Alois  |  

  The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) released a report this week entitled The Global Covid-19 Fintech Market Rapid Assessment Study. The report seeks to better understand the development of Fintech during a time of a global pandemic. The research was supported by the… Read More

December 4, 2020 @ 9:24 am By JD Alois  |  

Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced on June 28, 2019, that it would issue up to two digital full bank (DFB) licenses and three digital wholesale bank (DWB) licenses. Last June, MAS announced that 14 out of 21 applications to become digital banks have met… Read More