Politics, Legal & Regulation

November 3, 2019 @ 7:12 pm By JD Alois  |  

Big data is on the agenda for the House Financial Services Committee’s Task Force on Financial Technology. The Fintech Task Force will convene for a hearing entitled, “Banking on Your Data: the Role of Big Data in Financial Services.” The Fintech Task Force is relatively… Read More

November 3, 2019 @ 4:47 pm By JD Alois  |  

An ongoing enforcement action brought by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) pertaining to a cryptocurrency called ATM Coin has been resolved with a federal court ordering defendants to pay over $4.25 million in penalties. The US District Court of Eastern District of New York… Read More

November 2, 2019 @ 11:29 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), the financial regulator of Malta, has reportedly received 21 requests from digital asset exchanges that are interested in acquiring operational licenses under the island country’s Virtual Financial Assets (VFA) Act. As noted in a November 1 announcement on MFSA’s… Read More

November 1, 2019 @ 9:08 am By Omar Faridi  |  

London-based crypto firm Knabu is reportedly testing bank regulatory reporting with US-based Factom, Inc., a blockchain innovations company that provides various blockchain as a service (BaaS) platforms. In statements shared with Coindesk, the UK-based company revealed that it launched its 30-day pilot on October 31,… Read More

November 1, 2019 @ 1:14 am By Cali Haan  |  

The number of unlawful sites soliciting crypto investments from investors in Belgium has now reached 131 entities, an update to list of such sites indexed by the country’s Financial Services Markets Authority (FSMA) indicates. Even then, “This list cannot be considered as exhaustive,” the regulator… Read More

October 31, 2019 @ 2:02 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The government of Guangzhou, the capital and most populous city of China’s Guangdong province, has reportedly launched a $140 million subsidy fund in order to support the ongoing development of several local blockchain projects. Guangzhou’s authorities intend to allocate around 1 billion yuan (appr. $141… Read More

October 31, 2019 @ 3:30 am By Cali Haan  |  

Deputy finance ministers from France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands have been meeting behind closed doors throughout October to devise a strategy to prevent Facebook from launching its proposed Libra cryptocurrency network among its 2.5 billion users next year. According to four sources to Politico EU,… Read More

October 30, 2019 @ 9:43 pm By JD Alois  |  

Earlier this month, the California Department of Business Oversight issued Cannabis Banking Guidance regarding state regulation. California is one of a growing number of states that have legalized Cannabis consumption. While California, and multiple US states, have legalized Cannabis usage, it still is illegal at… Read More

October 30, 2019 @ 11:12 am By JD Alois  |  

According to a release from the principality of Liechtenstein, a panel on the new Liechtenstein Blockchain legislation presented at the UN in New York has been well received. Earlier this month, the Liechtenstein Parliament unanimously passed the “Token and VT Service Providers’ Act” (TVTG). The law… Read More

October 29, 2019 @ 4:44 pm By JD Alois  |  

Christopher Gerold, President of the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), recently spoke at NASAA’s 2019 Fintech & Cybersecurity Symposium. Gerold is also the Chief of the New Jersey Bureau of Securities. Gerold had this to say about Fintech: “Advances in financial technology [Fintech] and… Read More

October 29, 2019 @ 3:16 pm By JD Alois  |  

Filed with the US District Court for the Southern District of New York this week, Kik Interactive opened up the big guns by issuing multiple subpoenas to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Kik is the target of an SEC enforcement action alleging the sales… Read More

October 29, 2019 @ 11:03 am By JD Alois  |  

On October 25, 2019, Paxos sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Division of Trading and Markets. The letter was in request to receive a No Action letter from the SEC in regards to Paxos’s operation of a securities settlement system. Paxos… Read More

October 29, 2019 @ 8:23 am By JD Alois  |  

The European Commission is well known for talking a lot but, at times, doing very little. The Europea Banking Authority is out with a report today telling the Commission to pick up the pace when it comes to cross border activity in banking, payments and… Read More

October 29, 2019 @ 7:57 am By JD Alois  |  

A recenty survey indicates that merchants are very interested in Open Banking. While the topic started as an esoteric policy goal with few people really understanding what it meant, a report from Sentenial/Nuapay indicates popular interest exists and that 97% of merchants are already looking… Read More

October 28, 2019 @ 10:19 pm By JD Alois  |  

The US House of Representatives passed HR 4860 or the Crowdfunding Amendments Act by a voice vote today thus indicating broad bipartisan support. The bill was part of a grouping of five financial services bills each quickly approved by the House. The bill was introduced by… Read More

October 28, 2019 @ 6:56 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Reuters is reporting that Sun Tianqi, chief accountant at China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), told financiers assembled at the Bund Summit in Shanghai this week that governments in emerging markets must regulate cryptocurrencies because they can be used to transmit capital illegally and could… Read More

October 28, 2019 @ 7:55 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) has prepared a  draft of a resolution on regulating digital assets, which aims to offer more clarity for cryptocurrency-related initiatives in the Middle Eastern country. Comments are being accepted until October 29, 2019. With the… Read More

October 27, 2019 @ 6:53 pm By JD Alois  |  

For some years now there has been a discussion at the European Commission regarding harmonization of online capital formation rules. Today, crowdfunding is regulated at the member state (national) level creating a mish-mash of European regulations that defy the entire concept of a single market… Read More

October 27, 2019 @ 4:26 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

A number of concerns have been raised by digital currency exchanges regarding whether certain cryptocurrencies comply with relevant Financial Task Force (FATF) guidelines, including the “travel rule.”  Dash (DASH), one of the largest privacy-oriented crypto assets, has been a popular target for some digital asset… Read More

October 27, 2019 @ 4:10 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Police in Greece have arrested Ivan Manuel Molina Lee, president of payments processor Crypto Capital, for allegedly laundering hundreds of millions of dollars in drug proceeds for Columbian cartels. Molina is being held now by authorities in Poland, who believe he used the country as… Read More