Politics, Legal & Regulation

May 21, 2020 @ 11:52 am By JD Alois  |  

Comptroller of the Currency Joseph M. Otting will step down from the office on May 29, 2020, according to a release posted by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).  Current OCC First Deputy and Chief Operating Officer Brian P. Brooks will take… Read More

May 21, 2020 @ 10:33 am By JD Alois  |  

The Alternative Financial Services Association of Latvia has published Latvia’s Crowdfunding Industry Guidelines. The association seeks to provide industry rules to foster a transparent and sustainable sector of finance. Twino, a well-established peer to peer investment platform, is the first crowdfunding operator to adhere to the… Read More

May 21, 2020 @ 9:16 am By JD Alois  |  

Société Générale, a top French bank, has completed the first central bank digital currency (CBDC) transaction. According to a statement by Societe Generale SFH, a subsidiary of Société Générale, the company has issued 40 million euros in covered bonds in the form of “security tokens”… Read More

May 20, 2020 @ 4:17 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that its annual Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation will be virtual this year. During SEC Chairman Jay Clayton’s tenure, the Forum has moved outside the beltway. Before Clayton, the Forum was held at SEC HQ… Read More

May 20, 2020 @ 11:55 am By JD Alois  |  

Long-anticipated, the Future Fund opens for applications today. The Future Fund will remain open until September and is delivered in partnership with the British Business Bank. The Future Fund was revealed in April by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak as part of a package… Read More

May 19, 2020 @ 10:25 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Investors are reportedly looking to recover funds they had invested in EOS tokens, which they did through the record-breaking $4.1 billion initial coin offering (ICO) conducted by Block.one, the Cayman Islands-registered software developer that created EOS, one of the largest platforms for building decentralized applications… Read More

May 19, 2020 @ 9:59 am By JD Alois  |  

HM Treasury has provided an update on the progress of the various COVID-19 support programs that have been put in place in the last two months. According to the UK government:   8 million jobs have now been furloughed with £11.1 billion claimed so far… Read More

May 19, 2020 @ 9:27 am By JD Alois  |  

The Libra Association, based in Switzerland, continues to build out its executive bench. Today, Libra has announced the selection of Robert Werner as its General Counsel. Created by Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Libra is envisioned as a digital currency operated on a distributed ledger platform. According to… Read More

May 18, 2020 @ 11:04 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

A lawsuit was filed on May 16, 2020, against HDR Global Trading Ltd, the parent company of the Hong Kong-operated Bitcoin Mercantile Exchange (BitMEX), a leading digital currency derivatives exchange that averages billions of dollars worth of daily trading volume. The 106-page lawsuit has also… Read More

May 18, 2020 @ 2:11 pm By JD Alois  |  

The previously announced Future Fund will open for applications beginning May 20, 2020, following a period of deliberation where the UK government sought to sort out the details as to how, and for who, the COVID-19 support program would provide capital. The British Business Bank… Read More

May 18, 2020 @ 7:54 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Norbert Gehrke, founder and representative director at Tokyo Fintech, an initiative that supports community-led innovation in Japan’s financial services sector, notes that the country’s economy and business transactions are still “highly paper-based.” Gehrke has worked as managing director at Goldman Sachs’ Technology Division and Barclays… Read More

May 16, 2020 @ 5:50 pm By JD Alois  |  

FinCEN Director Kenneth A. Blanco delivered a speech at virtual Consensus this past week addressing several hot topics of the day – including the “Travel Rule”; the FATF requirement that virtual asset service providers (or VASPs – think crypto exchanges) maintain information on purchasers and… Read More

May 15, 2020 @ 2:08 pm By JD Alois  |  

  The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has posted a response to a consultation regarding the regulation of derivative contracts on payment tokens (ie digital currencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum used as a method of payment). The original consultation was launched in November 2019… Read More

May 15, 2020 @ 12:47 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has added six new members to its Investor Advisory Committee. The Committee is required under law and it seeks to advise the Commission on regulatory priorities regarding securities, trading and investment, disclosure, and investor protection issues. The new members… Read More

May 15, 2020 @ 12:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

Earlier this week, it was reported that Telegram has decided to abandon its initiative to launch a blockchain platform called TON (Telegram Open Network) and a cryptocurrency named Gram. The decision was the direct result of an ongoing enforcement action launched by the US Securities… Read More

May 13, 2020 @ 9:35 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Encrypted messaging provider Telegram has reportedly abandoned its TON blockchain project after a lengthy court battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram, confirmed on May 12, 2020, that the Telegram Open Network (TON) initiative would be discontinued, because… Read More

May 12, 2020 @ 4:00 pm By Lee A. Schneider  |  

In the wake of the announcements of Facebook’s Libra and the Chinese government’s intention to have a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), the topic of CBDCs as a new component of a country’s legal tender has become popular with governments and commentators. The basic idea… Read More

May 11, 2020 @ 9:30 pm By JD Alois  |  

San Francisco has earned a bit of a bad rap the past couple of years. Questionable leadership has led long-time inhabitants to complain about the rising level of crime and the increasing squalor of the city. The high cost of living/rent and California’s reputation as… Read More

May 11, 2020 @ 3:53 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last week, an amended bill hit the California Assembly. The legislation seeks to create an exemption for digital assets to be treated as securities. To quote AB 2150: “Existing law, the Corporate Securities Law of 1968, provides for the regulation of the issuance of corporate… Read More

May 11, 2020 @ 8:25 am By Omar Faridi  |  

United Kingdom’s trade group, TheCityUK, recently recommended that the country should update its regulatory framework for Fintech, as the COVID-19 crisis has made it challenging for businesses to operate while following traditional models of finance. There are around 1,600 Fintech companies based in the UK…. Read More