Link copied U.S. Treasury Department’s FinCEN working on new crypto regulations
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, is working on new cryptocurrency regulations, Treasury Security Steven Mnuchin revealed during a hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, CoinDesk reported. He said that FinCEN is drafting “significant new requirements” for cryptocurrencies, but did not go further into details.
Switzerland to lower client KYC threshold value for crypto exchange transactions to $1,000
The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has proposed to lower the client identification threshold value for cryptocurrency exchange transactions from 5,000 CHF to 1,000 CHF (or USD$1,020), as stated in a press release on Feb. 7. The regulator said that the new Financial Services Act (FinSA) and the Financial Institutions Act (FinIA) – which came into effect on Jan. 01 – have obliged it to pass a number of implementing provisions.
Election Commission of India looks to blockchain to tackle lost votes
The Election Commission of India (EC) is seeking to leverage blockchain technology to address the issue of lost votes, the Times of India reported. Almost a third of the country’s total voters (900 million) could not cast their vote in 2019 elections mostly because they were not in their hometown on the voting day.
Ukraine will not regulate cryptocurrency mining activities
Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation published a document on Friday announcing that the government will not be regulating crypto mining in the country, CoinDesk reported. The ministry, responsible for digital transformation, is convinced that crypto mining does not require regulatory activity as it is governed by the protocol itself. Thus, it decided to just leave it as is.
Insights
- IOSCO releases list of key considerations for regulating crypto-asset trading platforms
- DTCC calls for industry consortium and comprehensive framework to address DLT security risks
- Insider frauds contributed the most to $4.5B crypto-crime losses in 2019: CipherTrace
Company News
- Wells Fargo invests $5M in crypto monitoring firm Elliptic
- Crypto lending startup BlockFi secures $30M in Series B financing
- Paystand raises $20M in Series B funding to accelerate blockchain-based commercial payments
- Blockchain.com leads seven-figure funding for crypto market maker Wintermute Trading
- Content services provider Hyland acquires blockchain startup Learning Machine
- Voyager Digital acquires Circle’s crypto investing product ‘Circle Invest’
- Blockchain-powered London Football Exchange Group acquires Perth Glory Football Club
- Circle now seeks to sell off crowdfunding unit SeedInvest: Report
- JPMorgan in talks to merge Quorum blockchain unit with ConsenSys: Report
- Crypto investment firm Galaxy Digital lays off 15% of its workforce
- Crypto startup London Block Exchange placed into compulsory liquidation
- IOTA Foundation investigates fund theft in Trinity wallet
Partnerships/Consortiums
- Egypt's largest bank joins Ripple's blockchain network
- Dell, STMicroelectronics and others join IOTA and Eclipse's Tangle EE Working Group
- Mastercard, Binance X, Ripple’s Xpring and others join MouseBelt’s Blockchain Education Alliance
- Google Cloud Platform joins Hedera’s blockchain governing council
- Crypto exchange Huobi joins blockchain project Klaytn's Governance Council
Digital Currency Initiatives
- B2C2 and SFOX team up to offer new source of cryptocurrency liquidity
- BitPay brings cryptocurrency payments to POS terminals via Poynt partnership
- Chainalysis rolls out Anti-Money Laundering compliance solution for Tether stablecoin
- German bank to issue euro-pegged stablecoin, tokenize securities using Stellar blockchain
- SKALE Network to be the first project to launch token on ConsenSys Codefi’s Activate
- Canada Stablecorp issues CAD-pegged stablecoin "QCAD"
- Crypto custody provider Vo1t partners with IBM to supply secure data servers
Blockchain Initiatives
- SBI Crypto enters into blockchain cooperation partnership with Northern Data
- Israel’s stock exchange partners with Edinburgh-based startup for its Blockchain Securities Lending platform
- Blockchain insurance startup B3i completes 30 reinsurance contracts on its platform
- FC Barcelona taps blockchain to improve fan engagement via Chiliz partnership
- BNP Paribas, Citibank, JPMorgan and others go live on CLS blockchain payment netting service
- Chinese startup FUZAMEI rolls out blockchain tracing platform '33 Charity'
- Pharmaceutical company ACG launches blockchain-powered traceability and anti-counterfeiting solution
- Muscat Clearing and Depositing Company looks to blockchain for voting process
- U.S. clearing house Nacha announces blockchain-based payments platform ‘Phixius’
- South Korean job placement platform to develop blockchain-based digital ID system via ICONLOOP partnership
- South Korean university POSTECH issues blockchain-based digital diplomas amid coronavirus outbreak
