By Paul Grewal, Chief Legal Officer Bad facts make bad law. We see this in jurisdictions all over the world, especially when it comes to digital assets. Unfortunately, we are about to see this again — this time in the European Union — in the form of a revision to the Transfer of Funds Regulation....Read More
French international banking group BNP Paribas is in the news after the conglomerate, along with the French bank CA CIB and the French investing company Caisse des Dépôts, announced the launch of a project exploring a digital interbank currency (DIBC). The venture in question will also include tokenizing solutions firm Tokeny and The Blockchain XDEV...Read More
Reports have emerged depicting long lines in front of a physical gold sales location in Germany, in view of pending legislation which would once again lower the anonymous purchase limit, this time from €10,000 to €2,000. The last drop happened in 2017 when the limit was set at €15,000. A draft bill from the German...Read More
Regulatory measures continue to wreak havoc on smaller cryptocurrency firms. Simplecoin, a social crypto mining platform, is shutting down in early January of 2020. Several crypto firms have been forced to take drastic action in recent weeks. The End is Nigh for Simplecoin Simplecoin simply follow suit in this regard. The company foresees problems with...Read More
Like crypto payments provider Bottle Pay, mining pool Simplecoin and interactive bitcoin faucet Chopcoin are shutting down in light of restrictions imposed by EU anti-money laundering legislation, AMLD5. Simplecoin co-founder Marvin Janssen addressed Telegram users last month saying “We believe in the power of cryptocurrency and its potential. Mining should to be available to anyone...Read More
In the past month, European business hours became extremely active for bitcoin futures trading on BitMEX futures. European Traders Pick Up the Slack on BitMEX New data shows European bitcoin traders became active in the past month, making up the bulk of volumes on the BitMEX XBT/USD perpetual contract. European hours have been the most...Read More
Bottle Pay, a cryptocurrency payments provider from the U.K., has announced its decision to cease operations by the end of the year. Despite attracting some serious funding and expanding its user base significantly in the past few months, the company has found it unacceptable to continue to work under the upcoming EU regulations. AMLD5, the...Read More
Around half of European countries, over 20, now have 0% interest rates and a few are already in negative territory. Ukraine, which has the highest benchmark interest rate on the continent, has just reduced it again, for the fifth time this year. The race between central banks to cut rates, when there is inflation, has...Read More
In this regulatory roundup, we cover the U.S. SEC approving a bitcoin futures fund, the new IRS tax form targeting crypto owners, and several more steps taken by the U.S. government toward crypto regulation. We also cover India’s central bank digital currency plan, South Korea’s crypto taxation plan, and the European Commission’s announcement regarding stablecoins....Read More
The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s legislature, has approved amendments that introduce legal terms and definitions pertaining to the crypto space. The new legislation, which aims to transpose the FATF standards into national law, also identifies who is to take responsibility for the oversight of cryptocurrencies in the country. Also read: Crypto Startups to Get up to...Read More
The central bank of the Netherlands is preparing to supervise the country’s crypto sector. The bank has requested crypto exchanges and wallet providers to come forward and submit some information. Once the law takes effect, these operators will be required to register with the central bank to continue operations. Also read: Crypto Can Boost Indian...Read More
The European Union is actively probing Facebook’s Libra digital currency project for competition law violations, mainstream media report. Facebook’s Libra Has ‘Potential Anti-Competitive Behavior’ According to Bloomberg, which cited official correspondence August 20, the European Commission is quizzing Libra participants via a dedicated questionnaire. The document originally appeared earlier this month, and forms Libra’s latest...Read More
Facebook is reportedly already under investigation by the EU over antitrust issues related to its Libra cryptocurrency project. A document seen by Bloomberg indicates that the European Commission is “currently investigating potential anti-competitive behavior” by the Libra Association. The report describes the document as a questionnaire suggesting the commission is concerned that Facebook’s planned digital payment system could unfairly...Read More
