The source for this article wishes to remain anonymous. He is one of multiple sources this reporter has spoken to recently. All of them are relatively large-scale traders who have used Paxos Standard. They are a group of five traders. They trade in the millions of dollars per week via multiple exchanges including Binance and Huobi. These are mentioned in this article but aren’t the subject...
The Information Reporting Program Advisory Committee is a body which was established before the Internet was a major consumer network and is a result of federal government reorganization and, importantly, efforts to modernize and improve the IRS brought about by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989. The committee periodically suggests actions the IRS needs to take in order to improve its...
A case involving almost half a million dollars in cryptocurrency led to an important new precedent in China. A high Chinese court, the Court of International Arbitration, ruled that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are valuable personal property and are therefore protected under existing Chinese law. The court also stated that there is no law on the books prohibiting the possession or...
The Swiss Minister for Finance Ueli Maurer recently visited Israel along with State Secretary for International Financial Matters Joerg Gasser, citing their goal as gaining bank access to Israeli markets to allow Swiss banks to trade there. Reuters reports that the two nations have now agreed to collaborate on financial technology, cryptocurrency, and blockchain regulation following...
Often lauded as a bastion of anonymity, financial independence and personal security, ShapeShift exchange has made a controversial move in the eyes of some users by introducing KYC (know your customer) guidelines which will require their users to register their real identities to use the service. CEO Eric Vorhees published an announcement which was posted on Twitter describing ShapeShift...
The cryptocurrency ecosystem in India may have just found a lifeline, albeit an unlikely one. According to a legal report released in July 2018, the country’s lawmakers are considering legalizing the multi-million dollar sports betting industry – naming cryptocurrencies as a legally acceptable payment method akin to credit and debit cards. India Explores Cryptocurrencies in Sports Betting...
European cryptocurrency brokers are confronting regulators head-on, saying bring on the transparency. Digital currency brokers would rather face clear-cut rules and greater transparency in the market than battle the stigma that they have anything to do with fraudulent activity in cryptocurrency trading, according to a recent article in Bloomberg. It’s a sign of market maturity to see...
Last week, UK Parliament held an evidence session aimed to inform regulators on the nature of blockchain and cryptocurrencies. There were four guest panelists, with Director Martin Walker of the Centre for Evidence Based Management taking a hostile stance against blockchain as a financial instrument and against the work of fellow panelist and Ripple representative Ryan Zagone in particular...
CryptoUK, a self-regulated trade group dedicated to the cryptocurrency industry, has requested regulatory oversight for the digital currency market in the region. The trade group, in a written response to the Treasury Committee’s inquiry into cryptocurrencies, has offered detailed proposals and is calling on MPs to place the digital currencies under the jurisdiction of the Financial Conduct...
Kraken CEO and co-founder Jesse made headlines recently for his strongly-worded response to the New York Attorney General’s request for information on the Kraken exchange, the largest bitcoin exchange based on euro volume in the world. The NYAG sent out a statement insisting that exchanges be more transparent, and issued 13 exchanges a 34 point questionnaire with a 2 week deadline for...
The San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange is reportedly in talks with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about becoming a regulated brokerage firm and trading platform. According to The Wall Street Journal, Coinbase reached out to regulators about the getting licensed even as the SEC moves closer to crafting some regulatory framework by which exchanges and other market players...
Ripple’s chief executive has some words of advice for issuers behind ICOs: don’t spend all of your funds in one place. Brad Garlinghouse, who is at the helm of the blockchain startup that’s behind the XRP token, admonished ICO companies to “save some of the proceeds” in the event they find themselves the target in a token-price fueled class-action...
Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission, the country’s securities regulator, has moved to shut down an initial coin offering (ICO) citing “potential unauthorized promotional activities and unlicensed regulated activities.” Black Cell Technology was forced to halt its initial coin offering by the regulatory body. The project has complied with the official verdict by...
We’ve written in the past about the various methods companies in the United States can go about raising money via an ICO/token offering. One of the main methods we mentioned was the use of Regulation A+, something traditionally utilized by smaller companies to IPO that’s been embraced by cryptocurrency companies in the U.S. The problem is as IPO’s have gotten bigger, the cap...
Malaysia’s central bank has issued a statement seeking to warn customers and distance itself from the Coinzer cryptocurrency. Bank Negara Malaysia’s concern is Coinzer’s use of official logos on their proposed physical token. The statement outlines that Coinzer’s use of the BNM and Jata Negara logo on their prototype token website and whitepaper are unauthorized, and the...
He’s at it again! CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo has taken to Twitter to promote informed investment in cryptocurrencies. Is #crypto #FOMO your #FridayFeeling? #DYOR at #CryptoDad — Chris Giancarlo (@giancarloMKTS) March 2, 2018 Giancarlo earned his accolade as Crypto Dad from the crypto community following his opening speech at the SEC Commission on virtual currencies. Drawing upon...
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney does not support a ban on cryptocurrencies, favoring instead what sounds a lot like patchwork regulation. Carney made his largely sanguine remarks on crypto virtually, seemingly on cue, March 2 before students at the inaugural Scottish Economics Conference, an audience who he pointed out may very well own bitcoin, ether or Scotland’s digital currency...
While all may seem quiet on the regulatory front, it could just be the calm before the storm. The US Securities and Exchange Commission is pursuing a broad investigation into ICOs, one in which numerous subpoenas and requests for information have been issued to a number of blockchain startups, according to The Wall Street Journal. The SEC apparently wants insight into the moving parts that...
China’s state media today praised blockchain technology and the potential benefits it may bring to society. The People’s Daily – China’s largest newspaper and official outlet of the Communist party today published a feature article on blockchain technology. The piece was highly positive, describing the many potential benefits of the technology to both Chinese citizens and...
tZERO, a subsidiary of overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK), launched an ICO on December 18th last year, attracting over 10,000 registrations for accreditation verification, a requirement to subscribe. The token sale raised over $100 million USD in a mere 12 hours. The ICO was intended to fund the future development of the proposed tZERO tokens and a security token trading system and platform. The vision...
Fifty-two-year-old Jung Ki-joon led the regulatory effort to implement tighter controls on cryptocurrency trading. He was found deceased at home on Sunday, according to a South Korean government spokesperson cited in The Wall Street Journal. Jung Ki-joon, who led economic policy for the Office for Government Policy Coordination, had taken a leadership role in coordinating cryptocurrency...
New Jersey’s Attorney General says the online bitcoin investment platform has been fraudulently selling unregistered securities in the state. The New Jersey Bureau of Securities, a division of AG Gurbir S. Grewal’s office, has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Bitstrade, effective immediately, alleging that the company is in violation of the State’s Uniform Securities Law for pooling...
As new de-anonymity rules come into force in South Korea, banking organizations have been forced to implement new burdensome compliance checks on businesses undertaking exchange-based activities. This has forced banks to become even more critical when evaluating digital transaction accounts, a prerequisite for South Korean cryptocurrency exchange ventures to operate in the country. What Do We...
A senior Indian financial official has revealed steps taken by the government to render cryptocurrency payments ‘illegal’ in the country. In December 2017, law enforcement agencies in India were reportedly looking into incidents of money laundering, fraud and tax evasion in relation to the digital currency market. Now, it has been confirmed that the country will also simultaneously...
Traders don’t like uncertainty, and there’s more than a dose of that going around in the cryptocurrency markets currently. Not helping, the crypto community is bracing for a Congressional meeting of the minds today on Capitol Hill with lawmakers and regulators on the topic of cryptocurrency trading. The chiefs of both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures...
The US SEC urged the issuers behind two exchange-traded funds to refrain from using “blockchain” in their names shortly before the launch dates. Prior to the ETFs being unveiled, regulators asked that the issuers, Amplify Investments and Reality Shares Inc., make their debut sans blockchain in their names, despite the fact that both ETFs have exposure to blockchain-driven companies...
Israel is calling for a tax on upcoming ICOs for both issuers and investors, opting in a double-edged sword scenario to tighten the noose on regulation as opposed to a more severe approach taken by China and South Korea. Israel’s Tax Authority, which is comparable to the IRS, has published draft legislation with details of the proposed ICO tax, targeting blockchain companies that turn to...
Cryptocurrencies are in free fall, sparing only a handful of coins. But is it all bad? Or can some good come from this flash crash of January 2018? According to CoinMarketCap, at the time of writing, only five of the top 100 coins by market cap have avoided a plunge in value over the past 24-hours. The vast majority of those falls have been in the double-digits. But the damage has not been...
US policymakers have made targeting cryptocurrency-fueled terrorism and the illicit use of digital coins for any purpose a priority. Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC) of the House Financial Services Committee on Jan. 10 introduced the Financial Technology Innovation and Defense Act to Congress. A key feature of the bill is a fintech task force designed to reward tipsters offering viable information about...
On CNBC’s Squawk Box, Litecoin creator and former Coinbase executive Charlie Lee discussed the future of bitcoin, Litecoin, and the cryptocurrency market in the long-term. Strict Regulations Beneficial For Cryptocurrency Market During the interview, Lee offered his viewpoint on a wide array of cryptocurrency-related topics including the short-term price trend of Litecoin, current regulatory...
Earlier today, as South Korean mainstream media outlet Hankyoreh reported, the South Korean government’s planned regulations around bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market have been leaked. Translated at CCN, the four leaked regulations expected to be implemented by the end of this year are: Prevent unaccredited investors from dealing with losses through highly volatile cryptocurrencies. Prevent...
The South Korean government held an emergency meeting to evaluate the state of the local cryptocurrency exchange market and trading of digital currencies. A South Korean central bank official stated that the government plans to introduce various regulatory measures on Friday, December 13, with urgency given the recent rise in demand for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies from the traditional...
On December 5, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the country’s central bank, cautioned investors of bitcoin, clarifying that the government is yet to regulate bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchanges within the local market. An official statement released by the RBI read: “Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on December 24, 2013, [cautioned] users, holders and traders of Virtual Currencies (VCs) including...
According to a report by Chosun, a leading mainstream news publication in South Korea, the South Korean government is planning to allow initial coin offerings (ICOs) in the near future, with strict regulations and policies in place. ICO Will Not be Banned For All, Open For Institutional Investors Chosun’s exclusive report revealed that the South Korean Ministry of Strategy and Finance, Financial...
Koji Higashi, the co-founder of IndieSquare and Japanese cryptocurrency researcher, revealed Japan, the largest bitcoin market in the world in terms of daily trading volume, has friendly and loose regulations for bitcoin businesses and investors. But, while the Japanese government has legalized bitcoin as a currency and a legitimate payment method, other minor alternative cryptocurrencies...
Earlier this week, CCN reported that the Supreme Court of India request the central bank and the authorities to provide clarity on the regulatory framework surrounding bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market. “According to Indian news daily The Hindu, three justices from India’s Supreme Court – the highest court in the country – have issued notices to the Finance, Law and Justice and Information...
Throughout this week, false reports regarding the legality of bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining have emerged. Local sources have revealed that bitcoin mining is not banned as of yet. Unconfirmed Reports and Rumors Initially, Sichuan Electric Power Company, released an unconfirmed circular which claimed that the use of electricity to produce and mine bitcoin is illegal. Caijing, an independent...
CNLedger, a trusted news source within the Chinese cryptocurrency industry, has revealed that OKEX will soon launch peer-to-peer (P2P) over-the-counter (OTC) bitcoin-to-fiat trading platform. “More OkEx (and likely, Huobi-Pro) will soon launch P2P bitcoin tradings with various fiat currency support,” CNLedger reported. “We believe they’ll support CNY and some others like USD, JPY. They are...
Earlier today, on October 5, the cryptocurrency market and the majority of leading cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin endured a major correction, declining by over 4 percent in value. Particularly, the bitcoin price underperformed relative to other cryptocurrencies, dropping from $4,450 to $4,250 within the past three days. On October 4, the bitcoin price sustained...
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is investigating the June 21 ethereum price flash crash that occurred on GDAX. CFTC Investigating Ethereum Price Flash Crash As reported by Bloomberg, the CFTC has asked Coinbase — the owner and operator of GDAX — to supply information about the June 21 flash crash, which caused the ethereum price to plunge from $317.81 to 10 cents...
The US government may follow the roadmap of Japan in regulating trading activities around cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and Ethereum. Last week, the Japanese government and its financial regulator the Financial Services Agency (FSA) officially authorized and licensed 11 cryptocurrency exchanges including BitFlyer, the country’s largest trading platform with over 800,000 users. In a statement...
As financial regulators around the world issue warnings about initial coin offerings (ICOs), the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) has released their own guidelines for businesses who are considering raising funds through ICOs. ASIC, which serves as Australia’s corporate, markets and financial services regulator, is tasked with the job of ensuring that the...
Earlier this week, two local bodies representing the local financial technology (fintech) industry have revealed that Singaporean banks have denied banking services to bitcoin and blockchain startups. Singapore’s Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Industry Association, or Access, submitted a formal complaint to the Singaporean government, requesting officials to step in and create a fair and...
Earlier this week, Cryptocoinsnews reported that the Malaysian government and its financial regulators are set to regulate the Malaysian bitcoin industry and legalize the usage of the digital currency within the country. Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Muhammad bin Ibrahim, a Malaysian central bank official, stated: “We hope that by year end, BNM will be able to come out with some guidelines...
Over the past week, many traders, analysts, and investors in the finance and cryptocurrency sectors have reacted to the crackdown on bitcoin by the Chinese government positively. Investors such as billionaire early-stage investor Tim Draper, long-time bitcoin trader Josh Olszwicz, and prominent venture capital investor and Golden State Warriors owner Chamath Palihapitiya emphasized that the...
Several sources including the Wall Street Journal have reported that the Chinese government and its regulators may target bitcoin mining operators in the region following the imposition of a nationwide ban on cryptocurrency and bitcoin exchanges. Experts in the cryptocurrency sector and mining industry including John McAfee strongly believe that the Chinese government will not order a crackdown...
The daily trading volume of the Chinese bitcoin exchange market has nearly doubled that of the US bitcoin exchange market, surging above 45,000 bitcoins. For a brief period of time, the Chinese exchange market overtook the US in terms of market share to become the largest bitcoin market in the world, for the first time since November of 2016. Although bitcoin is being traded at around $4,000 in...
Fintech company Octo3 Group is going forward with the firm’s Initial Coin Offering (ICO) contrary to the recent warning of Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission, the territory’s regulatory body. The startup, that is selling a various range of financial technologies, is planning to transfer the firm’s global payment processing network on the blockchain. To reach...
One area that is often discussed during conversations regarding bitcoin is its place in the developing world and how it can greatly improve the lives of individuals transacting in those countries. In developed nations, it is often taken for granted that there is nationwide financial infrastructure, available to all citizens and accessible from almost anywhere in the country. People can deposit...
Xiaomi Head of Consumer Lending has said that over the last few years there has been a number of problems with China’s fintech industry and that regulation is needed. Speaking on Bloomberg Daybreak: Asia, Shea Chen, head of consumer lending at Xiaomi, a privately owned Chinese electronics company, said: This [fintech] industry needs regulation to enforce the activities and behaviors and to...