Politics, Legal & Regulation

October 28, 2018 @ 8:49 pm By JD Alois  |  

On Friday, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand issued a warning to investors pertaining to nine different initial coin offerings (ICOs) / tokens. The Thai SEC stated these offerings, which are typically promoted via social media platforms such as Facebook, have not been reviewed… Read More

October 28, 2018 @ 4:50 pm By JD Alois  |  

CI reported last month that the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) was considering filing a lawsuit against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). Once again, the CSBS mission is a legal challenge to the much debated OCC Fintech Charter. Last week, the… Read More

October 26, 2018 @ 4:57 pm By JD Alois  |  

The much heralded JOBS Act was signed into law in 2012 during a brief moment of bi-partisan cooperation. The objective was to drive economic growth, and job creation, via a series of regulatory updates including the legalization of investment crowdfunding. But has the JOBS Act… Read More

October 25, 2018 @ 8:35 pm By Cali Haan  |  

After two years in development and two false starts, Britain’s Royal Mint has canceled plans to issue a cryptocurrency backed by gold, Reuters reports. According to sources to Reuters, the issuing and distribution of the “Royal Mint Gold (RMG)” token: “…would have been the first time… Read More

October 25, 2018 @ 2:54 pm By Ștefan Neagu  |  

Background checks are broken. They’re necessary, especially when verifying personnel for sensitive positions, but right now, the system is broken. It’s a really lucrative business if you’re a background check company, because the system is great at exploiting companies checking applicants and creating more work… Read More

October 25, 2018 @ 12:26 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Japan’s Financial Services Authority (FSA), the independent regulator of the financial services sector there, is considering imposing a limit as low as 2-1 on margin trades of cryptocurrency conducted on local exchanges, Nikkei Asian Review (NAR) reports. The move is being contemplated as a measure to… Read More

October 25, 2018 @ 8:42 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Paytm Payments Bank has been in flux since this past summer when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) put the kibosh on the platform’s plans to  onboard new customers; as indicated on its website: “Paytm Payments Bank Limited has been prohibited by Reserve Bank of… Read More

October 25, 2018 @ 2:53 am By Cali Haan  |  

A $152 million lawsuit filed by the self-proclaimed expelled CEO against remaining executives at the prediction market platform Augur, has reportedly been settled, and has been taken “off calendar” at San Francisco courts, Forbes reports. According to Forbes, the case filed last April by Matthew Liston… Read More

October 24, 2018 @ 10:19 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Police in the city of Bengaluru in South India arrested the co-founder of Unocoin Technologies last week after the company allegedly installed a Bitcoin ATM at a local mall without necessary permissions, Times of India reports. One ATM, two laptops, a mobile phone, credit cards,… Read More

October 24, 2018 @ 7:18 pm By JD Alois  |  

The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) has approved Coinbase to form Coinbase Custody Trust Company. Additionally, DFS has approved Coinbase to Custody Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ether Classic, Litecoin and XRP. Providing a custody service is vital for the participation of institutional… Read More

October 24, 2018 @ 1:00 pm By Matthew Sullivan  |  

The crypto community is chomping at the bit for the SEC to approve an ETF for Bitcoin, and rightly so. For the uninitiated, an ETF (exchange traded fund) is a common investment vehicle, an index fund which tracks various stock market indexes and trades like… Read More

October 24, 2018 @ 10:20 am By Cali Haan  |  

A man in Bloomington, Indiana claims he was coerced into cooperating with a group of “Call of Duty” players that “cryptojacked” (stole) $3.3 million dollars of cryptocurrency from various victims, Chicago Sun Times reports. Though no charges have yet been laid, unsealed court documents show… Read More

October 24, 2018 @ 9:48 am By Cali Haan  |  

Makaveli Linden (formerly Christian Bo Linden), 20, a suspect wanted for the murder of cryptocurrency trader Heikki Bjørklund Paltto, 24, was arrested Tuesday at 16:45 in Dijon, France, Aftonbladet reports. Dijon is a city in eastern France about 1700 kilometres from Oslo, where the murder took place…. Read More

October 24, 2018 @ 8:55 am By JD Alois  |  

Neufund, a leading Germany-based Fintech startup and security token issuance platform, published an open letter to the German Bundestag today. The letter was in response to a recent court ruling in Germany that determined Bitcoin was not a financial instrument. The case centered around a… Read More

October 23, 2018 @ 12:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) hit the popular media screen during 2017 with stories of outrageous sums of money being raised online – sometimes under questionable circumstances. In total, according to EY, $4.1 billion was raised for the top ICOs during 2017. In 2018, that number… Read More

October 23, 2018 @ 1:15 am By Cali Haan  |  

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a Paris-based inter-governmental body “representing most major financial centres in all parts of the globe” and tasked with establishing anti-money laundering (AML) and anti-terrorist financing (CFT) standards worldwide has stated in an October 19th release: “There is an urgent need for… Read More

October 23, 2018 @ 12:49 am By JD Alois  |  

Former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Deputy Director of Trading and Markets Gary Goldsholle has joined the law firm Steptoe & Johnson as a partner – a law firm where he previously worked. Goldsholle spent almost four years at the SEC and was at the forefront of… Read More

October 22, 2018 @ 2:13 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued an order to suspend trading in shares of American Retail Group, Inc. which trade on OTC Markets (OTC:ARGB). Trading was said to be halted due to “statements about partnering with a claimed SEC-qualified custodian for use with… Read More

October 22, 2018 @ 9:15 am By Cali Haan  |  

Gal Vallerius, a dual French-Israeli citizen from the Brittany region of France, was sentenced to 20 years in prison earlier this month after pleading guilty to, “conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute controlled substances and conspiracy to launder money,” court documents indicate. Mr Vallerius,… Read More

October 21, 2018 @ 11:00 am By Max Lyadvinsky  |  

The blockchain has revolutionized a number of industries, but none so much as the financial sector. From equity crowdfunding platforms which allow users to buy shares in projects with tokens, to startups raising funds through initial coin offerings (ICOs), to token exchanges where users can… Read More