Binance has been at the regulatory cross-hair of jurisdictions across the globe, amid claims of it operating unlicensed businesses. As remediation to the ongoing scrutiny, the crypto exchange has publicly announced new know your customer (KYC) requirements for all users on the platform. “Effective immediately, all new users are required to complete Intermediate Verification to
Regulation
While the value of cryptocurrencies has varied wildly in the last year, this has not diminished crypto’s attractiveness to criminals. Many of them are moving their illegal activities underground and outside the view of law enforcement. Because of the public nature of most blockchains, however, this rapid movement shouldn’t be a major concern to law
In a business school lecture hall at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a senior executive for Safaricom gave a prediction of decentralized finance and the future of commerce to a room of keen but confused MBA students. “You will be able to buy your first home on WhatsApp! Smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain
The mayor of Cool Valley, Missouri said he was exploring giving more than $1 million in Bitcoin to the city’s 1,500 residents. In a Thursday interview with St. Louis news outlet KSDK, Mayor Jayson Stewart said he wanted to see “every single household in my city receive some level of Bitcoin.” Stewart said the funds
Less than two days after submitting separate applications to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, asset managers VanEck and ProShares have seemingly decided not to pursue exchange-traded funds with exposure to Ether. In individual Aug. 20 filings with the SEC, legal representatives of VanEck and ProShares both said the firms had elected not to proceed
Speaking at an online event organized by Council of the Americas, Brazil’s central bank president, Roberto Campos Neto, shared his views on transparent payment networks, the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) project and crypto regulation. Campos Neto has been a staunch advocate of the cryptocurrency space since taking office in 2019. His progressive policy-making
Regulatory concerns surrounding Binance.us and its owner, Changpeng Zhou (CZ), have reportedly culminated in investors backing out of a $100 million funding round. The failed funding round also prompted Binance.us CEO Brian Brooks’ surprise decision to step down after serving as its executive for just three months. Brooks, the former Acting Comptroller of the Currency and former
Brian Quintenz, who has served as one of the commissioners with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, reportedly plans to leave the agency on Aug. 31. According to a Thursday report from the Wall Street Journal, Quintenz is expected to announce his move into the private sector after leaving the CFTC later this month.
Outages in crypto exchanges have resulted in losses for investors trying to get out in time. While Binance has been proactive in neutralizing such situations, numerous investors are reportedly seeking damages due to the exchange’s inoperability. Speaking to CNBC, a Binance spokesperson highlighted the company’s policy that promises to compensate actual trading losses due to
In a newly published Medium piece titled “Good stablecoins, a protocol for money, and digital wallets: the formula to fix our broken payment system”, Facebook’s crypto pioneer David Marcus shared his views on topics of economic inequality, regulatory challenges and Novi’s proposed stablecoin solution. Marcus has spent the last couple of years building Diem’s crypto
Zachary Kelman, the general counsel for Cointelegraph, said that the political fight over the tax implications for crypto in the infrastructure bill is nothing new, as it’s likely about how lawmakers plan to pay for everything. In an interview with Cointelegraph’s Jackson DuMont, Kelman claimed that Senators pushing the crypto language in the infrastructure bill
Former United States Treasury Criminal Investigator Greg Monahan joined major cryptocurrency exchange Binance to oversee the company’s international Anti-Money Laundering (AML) efforts, the exchange announced on Aug. 18. Before replacing Karen Leong as the global money laundering reporting officer at Binance, Monahan worked for the U.S. Treasury for almost 20 years as a member of
The last-minute cryptocurrency provisions added to the U.S. infrastructure bill sought to “capture DeFi,” argues Compound’s general counsel Jake Chervinsky. Appearing on the Bankless State of the Network podcast on August 17, Chervinsky — who is also DeFi Chair of the Blockchain Association — said the industry had been “blindsided” by the infrastructure bill’s crypto
Two members of the United States House of Representatives have petitioned the heads of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission to work with participants in the crypto space for transparency and regulatory clarity. In a Monday tweet, Representative Glenn Thompson said he had submitted a letter with Representative Patrick McHenry to
Regulators around the world continue to keep the pressure fresh on crypto businesses. Spain’s National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) is the latest to issue a warning on several crypto- and financial market-related businesses for unregistered services. According to the official document, CNMV has issued warnings on 11 entities on Aug. 16 for not being registered
Due to their anonymity or pseudonymity, digital assets are perceived as entailing the risks of money laundering and financing terrorism. In October 2018, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) adopted changes to its recommendations on financial activities involving digital assets, adding the definitions “virtual asset” (VA) and “virtual asset service provider” (VASP). Since then, the