Regulation

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commision (SEC) has been granted an extension to submit a discovery schedule relating to individual defendants Brad Garlinghouse (CEO) and Chris Larsen (co-founder) as part of the case against Ripple Labs. The bitter legal dispute has been going since late December 2020, after the SEC alleged that Ripple Labs generated

The Central Bank of Honduras, or BCH, addressed rumors regarding the country potentially adopting Bitcoin as legal tender like its neighbor El Salvador — and the answer seems to be negative. In a Wednesday statement, Honduras’ central bank said “for the time being” Bitcoin (BTC) was not regulated in the country and not recognized as

In his monthly crypto tech column, Israeli serial entrepreneur Ariel Shapira covers emerging technologies within the crypto, decentralized finance and blockchain space, as well as their roles in shaping the economy of the 21st century. The White House came out with an executive order on regulating crypto recently. Across the sea, European legislators defeated a

The Central Bank of Ireland issued a warning to consumers about the risks around crypto investments in addition to “misleading” advertisements, including those pushed by influencers on social media. In a Tuesday notice, Ireland’s central bank said the warning was part of a campaign organized by the European Supervisory Authorities, made up of the European

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD, has suggested additional requirements on reporting crypto transactions and identifying users aimed at increasing transparency for global tax authorities.  In a public consultation document released on Tuesday, the OECD opened for public comment a proposal that would require crypto service providers to better identify users and

Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the emirate’s free zone, published a consultation paper on March 21 titled “Proposals for enhancements to capital markets and virtual assets in ADGM.” The document contains draft guidelines that, among other asset classes, cover nonfungible token (NFT) trading. The paper proposes that companies with a license from the free zone’s

On Monday, Euroclear, a securities clearing firm that claims it has over 37.6 trillion euros in assets under custody, announced an investment into Fnality, a consortium of financial institutions focused on the regulated adoption of tokenized assets and marketplaces, for an undisclosed amount. Meanwhile, Euroclear is also focusing on developing its distributed ledger technology, or

Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini has received an electronic money license from the Central Bank of Ireland. It was the 18th organization to receive the license, and the first since October 2020. Gemini joined such license holders as Coinbase, Stripe, Square and Meta.  The e-money license, which Gemini applied for in early 2020 and received March 14,

Considering the absence of any official announcements, El Salvador’s government seems to have delayed the launch date of the so-called “volcano bonds.” Earlier, Salvadoran Finance Minister Alejandro Zelaya had been reassuring the public that the project would start by March 20.  Speaking on a local TV show on Friday, El Salvador’s finance minister once again

Australian Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg opened the Australia Blockchain Week conference with a bombshell legislative proposal that he hopes will lay the groundwork for a new Digital Asset ecosystem down under. The proposed Digital Services Act (DSA) legislative package calls for reforms in crypto market licensing, custody, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), debanking, and taxes. Senator

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is taking Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly Facebook) to the Federal Court, alleging that the firm and its Irish branch engaged in “false, misleading or deceptive conduct” by publishing scam celebrity crypto ads. Some users have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars to the sophisticated and long running scams

While the Ukrainian government has moved to legalize Bitcoin (BTC) amid the ongoing attacks from the Russian military, some of the largest local banks have reportedly banned their clients from buying BTC using the national currency. PrivatBank, the largest commercial bank in Ukraine, has temporarily restricted its customers from purchasing Bitcoin with the national currency,

The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) recommended that the nation’s commercial banks ramp up monitoring users’ transactions that could be aimed at circumventing CBR’s “special economic measures to counter the outflow of foreign currency abroad,” local media reported on Thursday. The recommendation includes closer oversight over crypto trading, which is named among the vehicles for withdrawing

The proposed European Union Regulation on Markets in Crypto Assets, or MiCA, (hereinafter the “regulation”) was put to a vote in the European Union Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on March 14, 2022, and in the end, the proposed amendment to ban or restrict proof-of-work-based crypto assets, which would have effectively resulted in

Binance confirmed in an undertaking to the Ontario Securities Commission, or OSC, in Canada dated Wednesday that the crypto exchange will cease activities involving Ontario residents. Binance will also stop opening new Ontario accounts, and provide fee waivers and reimbursements to certain Ontario users under the administration of a third party, the company said.  The

The Qatar Central Bank (QCB) is reportedly investigating the possibility of launching a digital currency and issuing digital bank licenses.  According to the head of the fintech section at QCB, Alanood Abdullah Al Muftah, the central bank is expected to set a direction for its future focus soon on a range of fintech verticals.  Al