Politics, Legal & Regulation

July 12, 2018 @ 4:00 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Banking giant Citi announced on Thursday its Treasury and Trade Solutions has entered into a strategic partnership with HighRadius, a software company specializing in cloud-based integrated receivables, to launch Citi Smart Match. The new partnership follows a strategic investment made by Citi Ventures in HighRadius earlier… Read More

July 11, 2018 @ 6:08 pm By JD Alois  |  

Recently, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) – the self regulatory organization (SRO) that oversees broker dealers and other financial firms – issued a “Regulatory Notice” on digital assets. Digital assets, as defined by FINRA, include just about anything associated with blockchain including digital assets that… Read More

July 11, 2018 @ 11:18 am By JD Alois  |  

Steven Mnuchin, the US Secretary of the Treasury, will testify before the House Financial Services Committee tomorrow (July 12) at 10AM ET. According to the Committee memo, Mnuchin may be expected to discuss: any progress made in reforming the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the status… Read More

July 11, 2018 @ 3:41 am By JD Alois  |  

The US House of Representatives passed the “Main Street Growth Act” (H.R. 5877) yesterday. The bill was passed on a voice vote indicating solid bipartisan support. Sponsored by Representative Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the bill amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to allow for… Read More

July 11, 2018 @ 2:26 am By Cali Haan  |  

An official at the People’s Bank of China (PBC) tasked with regulating internet finance has reiterated the Chinese state’s determination to stop all ICO and crypto investing in the country, even solicitations to invest emanating from overseas, Coindesk reports. According to the the Chinese publication… Read More

July 10, 2018 @ 12:31 pm By JD Alois  |  

The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Terrorism and Illicit Finance has updated on witnesses for the hearing entitled “Countering the Financial Networks of Weapons Proliferation.” The hearing will take place this Thursday, July 12, 2018, at 2:00 p.m. According to the Subcommittee, the following witnesses… Read More

July 10, 2018 @ 11:12 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has obtained final judgments against attorney T.J. Jesky and his law firm’s business affairs manager, Mark F. DeStefano pertaining to the illegal sales of Ubi Blockchain stock. Both Jesky and DeStefano profited from sales in the stock. UBIA is a… Read More

July 10, 2018 @ 7:32 am By Cali Haan  |  

The Financial Indunstry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a self regulatory organization that oversees the conduct of investment product dealers in the US, has urged firms to ongoingly and voluntarily disclose any involvement they may have with cryptocurrency products (digital assets) and production, and reminds them to,… Read More

July 9, 2018 @ 6:26 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The Ontario Securities Commission’s (OSC’s) “Statement of Priorities for the Financial Year to End March 31st, 2018,” provides little guidance to Ontario companies trying to advance blockchain-based financial technologies, says Toronto-based blockchain lawyer Amy ter Haar. T Though the report restates the commission’s commitment to protecting… Read More

July 9, 2018 @ 9:37 am By JD Alois  |  

The House Financial Services Committee has scheduled a hearing entitled “Countering the Financial Networks of Weapons Proliferation.” The Hearing will take place on July 12th at 2PM ET and will be live streamed on the Committee’s website. While the Hearing memo is yet to be released… Read More

July 9, 2018 @ 8:27 am By JD Alois  |  

The Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement, or the “J5”, is a group of nations dedicated to fighting against tax crime and money laundering. Participants in the J5 include the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) and Australian Taxation Office (ATO), the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA),… Read More

July 9, 2018 @ 8:05 am By JD Alois  |  

As has been widely reported, the Israeli Tax Authority has conducted an audit at the offices of Bits of Gold, a Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange. Bits of Gold also transacts in alt coins in an OTC fashion. The Israeli Ministry of Finance gave Bits of… Read More

July 8, 2018 @ 4:06 pm By JD Alois  |  

Sun Guofeng, Director of the Peoples Bank of China Research Institute, says that more Fintech regulation is on its way. The comments were reported by ECNS as Guofeng spoke at the Bund Summit in Shanghai. Guofeng said; “Building regulatory regime at local levels will become… Read More

July 7, 2018 @ 6:52 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) is inviting interested parties to apply to operate investment crowdfunding platforms and peer to peer lending sites. SC states that applicants may submit their applications for registration now with a deadline of September 7th, 2018. As at June 2018, the… Read More

July 5, 2018 @ 1:40 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has published its 2018-2019 “Statement of Priorities.” This document sets out the priorities for the regulator during the fiscal year along with preferred outcomes. Along with the expected statements of investor protection and compliance / enforcement, the OSC says it intends… Read More

July 3, 2018 @ 11:52 am By JD Alois  |  

US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross is in London meeting with Dr. Liam Fox, International Trade Secretary. The duo met as part of an ongoing discussion to boost trade ties between the two countries in advance of the looming Brexit. According to a report by… Read More

July 3, 2018 @ 10:17 am By JD Alois  |  

Q2 2018 Sees Increase in Crypto Theft and in Cryptocurrency Money Laundering CipherTrace has published a report on Crypto Theft and money laundering. Their research covers the second quarter of 2018 and according to the document there has been a dramatic rise in Crypto crime… Read More

July 3, 2018 @ 8:39 am By JD Alois  |  

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has posted the 29 firms that will be part of the fourth cohort of the Fintech sandbox. The UK was the trailblazing regulatory agency that first created an environment where innovative financial firms could safely experiment with new services… Read More

July 2, 2018 @ 12:05 pm By JD Alois  |  

In a significant policy move by the UK government, the threshold for investment crowdfunding has been upped to €8 million thus matching the recent change by Germany which announced the same funding limit. This increase is due to a change in the Prospectus Directive. In the… Read More

July 2, 2018 @ 11:44 am By JD Alois  |  

Last week, Robert Ophèle, President of the Autorité des Marchés Financier (AMF), presented the 2017 AMF annual report to the Finance Committee of the National Assembly. Ophèle took the opportunity to address a wide range of topics but notably on the list was the Pact Act… Read More