The European Union (EU) released a package of documents on Oct. 18 related to an action plan for implementing the European Green Deal and the REPowerEU Plan, both of which aim at energy savings by digitalizing the energy sector. The European energy planners have crypto miners in their sights along with myriad other energy users.
Regulation
The Law Commission of England and Wales will set about reviewing private international legal challenges involving cryptocurrencies through a government-commissioned project. The review, launched on Oct. 18, will provide clarity on how international law approaches emerging technologies like cryptocurrencies, digital assets and electronic documentation. The law reform project, dubbed “Digital Assets: Which Law, Which Court?”
The International Criminal Police Organization is reportedly planning to strengthen its crackdown on cryptocurrency-related crimes by forming a dedicated division. Interpol, the world’s largest global police organization, has set up a special team in Singapore to help governments fight crimes involving virtual assets, the Indian news agency Business Standard reported on Oct. 17. Interpol made
While the European Union proceeds with smoothly passing its landmark crypto framework, the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA), through the legislation phases, its financial services chief urges their United States’ counterparts to keep in step to ensure the forthcoming regulations will be global, not local. On Oct. 18, the European Commission’s financial services commissioner Mairead McGuinness
The lack of crypto regulation in the United States has long complicated the lives of users and service providers, and now a judge has acknowledged the pain the judiciary also feels from its absence. Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn, the judge who is leading the Celsius case, said the court will look abroad
The Texas State Securities Board (SSB) and the Texas Department of Banking (DOB) filed a supplemental declaration Oct. 14 in the Voyager Digital case in which it stated that the SSB is investigating FTX Trading, FTX US and their principals, including co-founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, for allegedly offering unregistered securities in the United States.
Perhaps one of the most captivating signs of the industry’s maturity is the increasing amount of court cases in which crypto companies fight back against perceived regulatory abuses. Last week saw some major advancements in that direction. Digital asset manager Grayscale has filed its opening brief against the United States Securities Exchange Commission to challenge
On Oct. 17, a new report published by Reuters alleged that cryptocurrency exchange Binance “swerved scrutiny” from regulators in the United Kingdom and the United States. The main spearhead of the allegations arises from two supposed incidents in its operating history. First, Reuters wrote of Binance strategy executive Zoe Wei’s proposal to backdate a service
The French stock market regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), approved France’s Société Générale bank as a digital assets service provider (DASP) on Sept. 27. Société Générale joined international operators such as Voyager, Bitpanda, Binance and Etoro as registered DASPs. The bank did not announce its approval. Société Générale’s digitally focused Forge subsidiary was
Germany has become the most favorable crypto economy in the world in the third quarter of 2022, according to a new report. The United States, the joint top-rank holder from last quarter, fell six places to rank seventh on the top crypto economy. The crypto economy rankings compiled by Coincub looked into various factors such as
Sunny Aggarwal has vivid memories of some of the worst days of his life earlier this year. The blockchain co-founder and his Osmosis protocol were hit hard by the Terra–LUNA collapse and are still recovering from its fallout today. “The Terra crash hit us incredibly hard because we were one of the biggest DEXs for
Nine months into the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, sanctions against the latter have continued to grow at an aggressive pace. This time around, legislators for the European Union announced that they are introducing a complete ban on all cross-border crypto payments between Russia and its citizens. To elaborate, a prohibition of all “crypto-asset wallets,
South Koreans could soon allow its citizens to use blockchain-based digital identification (ID) instead of physical cards as soon as 2024, as the nation further embraces blockchain technology. According to an Oct. 17 report from Bloomberg, a plan from the government will see digital IDs embedded as an app within mobile devices in the future,
Australia’s chief financial market regulator has placed interim stop orders on three cryptocurrency-related funds set to be offered to retail investors, due to non-compliant target market determinations (TMDs). In a media release dated Oct. 17 local time, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said it has placed interim stop orders on three of Australian
The founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried has backed the idea of knowledge tests and disclosures to protect retail investors but said it shouldn’t just be crypto-specific. Bankman-Fried tweeted his thoughts in response to an idea floated by the Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC) commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero on Oct. 15, saying the establishment
Considerable anxiety exists in the world of Web3 related to regulation and the legal status of cryptocurrency projects. It’s particularly apparent in the United States, where the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) fueled concerns in September with an announcement that it was imposing a $250,000 fine on a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), Ooki DAO, and
The finance minister of India, Nirmala Sitharaman, revealed India’s plan to develop standard operating procedures (SOPs) for cryptocurrencies during its G20 presidency, from Dec. 1, 2022, to Nov. 30, 2023. Sitharaman has previously called for global collaboration to decide on crypto’s future and has been cautious against mainstream crypto adoption citing risks to financial stability.
This month, the European Union (EU) agreed on the text for a unified licensing regime for cryptocurrency exchanges to operate across the EU bloc as part of its Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA). The United States — despite being a traditional global leader in legal frameworks for technological innovation — has not provided that
U.S. investors have been waiting for a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) approval since May 2014 when the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust filed an amendment request at the Securities and Exchange (SEC). Over the years, the SEC has rejected every applicant and the latest denial was issued to WisdomTree’s application for a spot Bitcoin ETF on Oct.
The Texas State Securities Board (SSB) and the Texas Department of Banking (DOB) raised an objection in court against Voyager Digital’s disclosure statement, questioning the various methodologies and calculations used to estimate the fair market value of the bankrupt exchange’s crypto assets. In a pleading filed with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern