Tagged: EU

February 28, 2020 @ 7:18 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Malta-based digital asset exchange Binance has teamed up with Shyft Network, the developer of a public blockchain protocol, in order to ensure that it is complying with updated Financial Action Task Force (FATF) financial market regulations. The Shyft Network was developed to offer a decentralized… Read More

January 16, 2020 @ 11:14 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Baltic region’s finance industry has been struggling and some of the area’s countries including Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have reportedly been indirectly involved in money-laundering scandals that were allegedly orchestrated by large Nordic banks. However, Lithuania’s capital has been able to develop its local… Read More

December 16, 2019 @ 7:09 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Simplecoin, a European cryptocurrency mining platform, has announced that it will be shutting down its operations on January 1, 2020. Simpleton reported that the proposed fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive by the European Union (EU) is currently being implemented by its member states which impacts its… 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 24, 2019 @ 8:54 am By Cali Haan  |  

The Bank of Lithuania, the country’s central bank, has issued guidelines intended to, “provide greater regulatory clarity and aim at higher investor protection,” in the country’s security token offering (STO) market. Lithuania has been working hard to establish itself as a Fintech leader in the… Read More

October 10, 2019 @ 1:29 am By Cali Haan  |  

The European Union’s finance commissioner-designate, Valdis Dombrovskis, has told fellow members of Europe’s governing body that he plans to propose laws for the regulation of cryptocurrencies, Reuters reports. “Europe needs a common approach on crypto-assets such as Libra…I intend to propose new legislation on this,” Dombrovskis… Read More

August 22, 2019 @ 3:40 am By Cali Haan  |  

Antitrust regulators from the EU’s European Commission are currently examining possible monopoly implications of Libra, Facebook’s proposed global currency system, Bloomberg reports. Facebook announced in June that it would roll out the Libra “stablecoin” cryptocurrency through its WhatsApp and Messenger apps in 2020. They said the… Read More

June 6, 2019 @ 4:18 pm By Cali Haan  |  

In its latest “country-specific recommendations,” the EU has advised officials in Malta to enhance oversight of the country’s booming cryptocurrency and gaming sectors, to boost rules and address understaffing in the country’s Economic Crimes Unit, and to act against “aggressive tax planning” (evasion) executed by individuals… Read More

April 26, 2019 @ 8:01 am By JD Alois  |  

The European Union Blockchain Observatory and Forum has published a “thematic report” on blockchain adoption. The project is an initiative by the European Commission. This first report is one of a series of documents which is expected to be published over the coming months. The… Read More

January 28, 2019 @ 9:02 am By JD Alois  |  

GDPR or the General Data Protection Regulation is a big deal. GDPR was designed to better protect consumers and their digitized information. While clearly not perfect, GDPR is the direct result of big corporations failing their customers with poor security protocols, lackluster attention to cyberfraud… Read More

January 7, 2019 @ 9:28 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) has received payment institution authorization from Ireland’s Central Bank. According to Irish Times, the Central Bank granted authorization to Google Payment Ireland under the second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) regulation. The company will now be allowed to issue and acquire payments across the European Union (EU)… Read More

December 30, 2018 @ 4:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

The European Commission (EC) recently announced a European investment plan designed to boost access to capital to Spanish SMEs and “midcap investment projects.” The plan is for the European Investment Bank Group and BBVA to provide €360 million for these smaller businesses. A €60 million “synthetic… Read More

December 30, 2018 @ 10:33 am By JD Alois  |  

As part of the Capital Markets Union (CMU), updated rules for securitization will commence on January 1st, 2019 in the European Union (EU). The new “harmonized” rules are designed to streamline the process of financial services firms to leverage securitization to boost access to capital…. Read More

December 14, 2018 @ 3:27 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Slice Labs Inc., an on-demand insurance cloud platform provider, announced on Thursday the availability of Insurance Cloud Services (ICS) in the UK and EU. Slice reported that the first customer to use ICS in the UK is Legal & General with the launch of on-demand,… Read More

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

Most innovation occurs in smaller businesses and most job creation takes place within these small firms. This is a truism for all developed countries and in recent years governments around the world have sought to foster an innovation-driven economy. The European Union (Brexit aside) is… Read More

November 16, 2018 @ 11:35 am By JD Alois  |  

European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis has issued a comment on the regulation of initial coin offerings (ICOs) and virtual currencies. The statement is part of an ongoing discussion within the European Parliament and the Commission. Dombrovskis is the Commissioner in charge of Financial Stability, Financial… Read More

November 7, 2018 @ 5:28 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Pilates, a private bank accused by murdered journalist Daphne Carauna Galizia of laundering money for Maltese politicians and foreign interests, has lost its license, Financial Times reports. The license was withdrawn last Friday by the European Central Bank (ECB), several months after Pilatus’ founder and ex-chairman Seyed… Read More

October 19, 2018 @ 11:17 am By Aubrey Hansen   |  

The European Union does not need to seek out any problems for the moment, with the highly publicized ‘divorce’ from the UK taking place in the full media spotlight, but it’s easy to forget that, as things stand, the EU is also taking its approach… Read More

September 11, 2018 @ 10:50 am By JD Alois  |  

At the meeting of EU financial ministers in Vienna last week, Austria’s Minister of Finance Hartwig Löger said that Europe is working on rules and regulations for crypto assets to support the development of the sector. The meeting included all of the economic and financial affairs… Read More

April 11, 2018 @ 9:20 pm By Cali Haan  |  

On Tuesday, April 10th, 22 European countries signed an declaration vowing to cooperate as partners in the development and deployment of blockchain tech across European jurisdictions. According to the declaration, “Cooperation on a European Blockchain Partnership,” earnest efforts to “reaffirm” Europe’s “leading role” globally in blockchain… Read More