Two United States government financial officials gave speeches on Sept. 7 in which they expressed their positions on crypto regulation. Both had reservations about crypto. Michael Barr, who was recently appointed United States Federal Reserve Board vice chair for supervision, made his first speech in his new capacity at the Brookings Institute. Acting Comptroller of
Regulation
The United Kingdom’s independent advertising regulator has upheld a complaint involving former reality show Love Island contestants Eve and Jessica Gale for “triviali[zing] investment in cryptocurrency.” In a Wednesday notice, the U.K. Advertising Standards Authority, or ASA, said the reality stars promoted crypto in an Instagram story in June at the request of an influencer
Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, has accused crypto exchange Zipmex and its co-founder Akalarp Yimwilai of non-compliance with local laws and referred the matter to the police. In a Wednesday announcement, the Thai SEC alleged Zipmex had not provided information on digital wallets and crypto transactions in compliance with the country’s Digital Assets
Sept. 7, 2022 marks exactly one year since El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender by enforcing the Bitcoin Law. Advocating for Bitcoin as legal tender last year, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele promised that Bitcoin adoption would benefit the 70% of the local population that
Guidelines for security tokens in South Korea will be announced by the end of 2022. Simultaneously, the pilot market with a regulatory sandbox will be launched before the formal institutionalization. Chief South Korean financial regulator, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), published the report with the results of a joint policy seminar it held together with
Three federal agencies in the United States — the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center — jointly issued an advisory seeking information to curb ransomware attacks. As part of the #StopRansomware campaign, the joint cybersecurity advisory alerted citizens of Vice Society, a
Recently elected Conservative Party leader and prime minister of the United Kingdom Liz Truss has appointed Kwasi Kwarteng as the country’s newest chancellor of the exchequer, or chief financial minister. In a Tuesday announcement, Truss’ office named Kwarteng as the next U.K. finance minister, replacing Nadhim Zahawi, who served as chancellor of the exchequer for
The legal team for Alexander Vinnik, a Russian national recently extradited to the United States for his alleged role at defunct crypto exchange BTC-e, has reportedly been urging officials to consider a prisoner swap. According to a Monday report from Reuters, a lawyer representing Vinnik called on Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov to conduct negotiations with
Russia’s Finance Ministry has reportedly begun working with the governments of “friendly” nations to establish a cross-border stablecoin-based payments platform. According to a Tuesday report from Russia state-owned news agency TASS, Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev said the government was looking to create the settlement platform to avoid the use of U.S. dollars and euros.
Decentralized finance (DeFi), one of the fastest growing ecosystems in the cryptocurrency market, has long been a dilemma for regulators, given the decentralized nature of the space. In 2022, United States regulators paid special focus to the nascent area with significant attention to ending the anonymous nature of the ecosystem. DeFi protocols allow users to
Australia’s ministerial department of Treasury reached out to the public to seek consultation regarding draft legislation that would exclude cryptocurrencies from being taxed as a foreign currency if passed. In a press release, Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones highlighted the Australian government’s intent to exclude crypto assets from being regarded as a foreign currency for tax purposes.
The past few years have seen crypto assets moved from being “niche products” to having more of a mainstream presence, prompting the need for more comprehensive regulation of the space, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In a new report authored by IMF capital markets director Aditya Narain and assistant director Marina Moretti, officials noted
Mark Alexander Hopkins, also known by the moniker ‘Doctor Bitcoin’ or their handle Rizzn, has claimed that “transacting Bitcoin p2p is a federal crime” after announcing the sentence in their case to social media followers. In a Sunday Twitter thread, Hopkins said that they were facing between 6 to 15 months at a federal correctional
The United Kingdom’s Financial Reporting Council has reportedly found flaws in the audit of cryptocurrency-friendly payments app Revolut tha included an “unacceptably high” risk of “material misstatement.” According to a Monday report from the Financial Times, the U.K. Financial Reporting Council criticized the results of a Revolut audit released in July by accountancy and business
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is in talks with fintech companies and state-controlled banks about a trial run of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), local publication Moneycontrol reported on Sept. 5. An unnamed public sector bank official told the publication that the trial may precede an RBI launch of a CBDC this fiscal year.
After a race for the leadership of the Conservative Party, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development affairs Liz Truss defeated former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and will be the next prime minister of the United Kingdom. Boris Johnson, who served as the prime minister since 2019, will be on his way
United States-based crypto lending platform Celsius, which collapsed and stopped the withdrawal option amid the market meltdown in June, pledged its readiness to partially return money to customers. However, there’s a catch — as the company has filed a motion with the United States Bankruptcy Court, its pledge would only apply to Custody and Withold
Law enforcement in Australia is working to boost cryptocurrency expertise and trace crypto transactions by setting up a dedicated police group. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has established a new cryptocurrency unit to focus on monitoring crypto-related transactions, The Australian Financial Review reported on Monday. Stefan Jerga, the national manager of the AFP’s criminal asset
In a recent interview, United States congressman and a known crypto skeptic Brad Sherman claimed that banning cryptocurrencies is not an option at this point. In a statement to LA Times, the Northridge-area Democrat said that the crypto industry has become quite powerful over the years. He added that the high capital donations to the politicians
The Nigerian government has held a preliminary meeting with crypto exchange Binance to potentially establish a special economic zone aimed at supporting crypto and blockchain-related businesses. According to a Sept. 2 post from the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), the authority has held preliminary talks with Binance and technology infrastructure company Talent City to