Politics, Legal & Regulation

April 4, 2021 @ 9:36 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Elaine Sun, Compliance Director of digital assets firm Huobi Technology, recently noted that the traditional financial infrastructure and the idea or concept of money are “changing before our eyes.” Sun adds that the concept of “store of value” has mostly been associated or tied to… Read More

April 3, 2021 @ 7:41 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Cass Sanford, an Associate General Counsel who supports regulatory and policy-making initiatives at OTC Markets Group, notes that the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) amendments to Rule 15c2-11 may eliminate public quoting in securities of issuers that don’t make current information “publicly available.” Sanford,… Read More

April 3, 2021 @ 7:24 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Lithuania, which has one of the fastest-evolving Fintech sectors in the EU, is experiencing a transformative shift from traditional banking service providers, a trend that’s being supported by the growing number of digital transactions and the launch of new virtual payments startups. The Baltic nation,… Read More

April 3, 2021 @ 12:23 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Latvian P2P lender Grupeer reveals that they’ve received some “positive” news from their legal team (on March 31, 2021). According to Grupeer, this is a time to be “cautiously optimistic.” The Grupeer team writes in a blog post that they had begun legal enforcement proceedings… Read More

April 3, 2021 @ 9:37 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Dan Burstein, General Counsel at Paxos, claims in a blog post that the company is the “most trusted” operator in the digital asset infrastructure space. Burstein explains that trustworthiness is key to their business model and overall success at Paxos. They believe that by serving… Read More

April 1, 2021 @ 7:37 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Brazil’s reserve bank will again allow Facebook-owned WhatsApp to offer peer-to-peer payments services in the South American country. The decision to permit WhatsApp to again facilitate transactions in Brazil has come nine months after the service had been suspended. In June of last year, Brazil… Read More

April 1, 2021 @ 8:09 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Payments Systems Regulator (PSR) in the UK stated on March 31, 2021 that it “provisionally” finds five firms violated the law by “engaging in cartel behavior” in the pre-paid cards market. As stated in a release, three out of five parties actually admitted liability… Read More

March 31, 2021 @ 11:10 pm By JD Alois  |  

The United Kingdom is looking to regulate the fast emerging stablecoin market before it addresses the broader crypto-asset sector, according to a report by Reuters. Citing John Glen, MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, who was speaking at a conference, the report indicated concern about… Read More

March 31, 2021 @ 10:11 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) revealed on March 31, 2021, that Singapore plans to take part in global efforts to improve the overall capacity of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to provide assistance to “vulnerable” low-income nations in “dealing with the economic fallout from… Read More

March 31, 2021 @ 5:34 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a statement addressing the hot SPAC market. Special purpose acquisitions companies or blank check firms have boomed in recent months. SPACs are viewed as an easier path for issuers to become a publicly-traded firm yet the rapid… Read More

March 31, 2021 @ 3:13 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council) has distributed a note criticizing President Joe Biden’s planned tax increase that will hit both individuals and businesses. Addressing  the policy of pushing business taxes higher, the SBE Council says raising taxes during the shaky economy and… Read More

March 31, 2021 @ 1:17 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Open Banking adoption or usage in the US has been increasing due to a significant rise in customer demand and growing pressure or competition. This, according to a recent from the Financial Technology (FT) Partners. As noted in a report titled, Open Banking: Rearchitecting the… Read More

March 30, 2021 @ 11:00 am By Ariel Glasner and Amit Roitman  |  

President Joe Biden’s young administration is poised to deliver heightened – and perhaps unprecedented – regulatory scrutiny of the exploding Fintech industry.  The groundwork for a more active regulatory regime has been set over the course of the past decade.  Prior administrations harnessed existing enforcement… Read More

March 30, 2021 @ 8:33 am By JD Alois  |  

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has issued a statement that crypto trading platforms must be in compliance with existing securities law or they fact potential regulatory action. This news arrives around the same time the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) and the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization… Read More

March 29, 2021 @ 9:43 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged LBRY with conducting an offering of digital assets deemed to be unregistered securities. LBRY is a blockchain-based company that is working on a digital marketplace, using its native currency LBC, for content such as images, video, audio,… Read More

March 29, 2021 @ 5:07 pm By JD Alois  |  

In a joint statement today, five federal financial regulatory agencies announced a consultation pertaining to the usage of artificial intelligence (AI) as well as machine learning (ML) within financial institutions. The agencies seek information from the public on how financial institutions use AI in their… Read More

March 29, 2021 @ 11:25 am By JD Alois  |  

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) and the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) have jointly published a notice outlining securities law requirements that apply to crypto-asset trading platforms (or CTPs) and how they may be tailored by regulators, according to a public statement. The… Read More

March 28, 2021 @ 10:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

Christin Friedrich is CEO and majority shareholder of Innovestment, an alternative financing platform founded in 2012 that is focused on the long-term sustainable impact for SMEs based in Germany. She is also chairwoman of the board of the European Crowdfunding Network (ECN), the association that… Read More

March 28, 2021 @ 8:25 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the nation’s central bank, announced on Friday (March 26, 2021) that it has started working on a separate set of guidelines for virtual banks which will focus on “regional regulatory trends,” according to a report from local sources. As… Read More

March 27, 2021 @ 5:23 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Local sources in India have commented on why the government may want residents to disclose their digital currency holdings. Industry professionals in the country have pointed out that the Indian corporate affairs ministry could be looking for disclosures from firms in order to get a… Read More