Politics, Legal & Regulation

November 21, 2020 @ 3:45 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) has proposed several legislative updates that could potentially give it more control over payment settlements in the Fintech sector. The Bank of Korea (BOK), the nation’s central bank, has stated that these proposed guidelines would create redundant regulations. As… Read More

November 20, 2020 @ 3:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

  Phil Liu is Chief Legal Officer and co-founder of Arca – a regulatory compliant digital asset investment platform that is building financial products utilizing blockchain. Arca is the first firm to offer a registered fund with shares issued as a digital security. The Fund… Read More

November 19, 2020 @ 7:23 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Brendan Blumer, CEO at Block.one, the company behind EOS, one of the largest platforms for building blockchain-based decentralized applications (dApps), has acknowledged that the innovation in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space is “revolutionary.” However, the recent guidance provided by global regulatory authorities regarding crypto and… Read More

November 19, 2020 @ 7:22 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recently issued a warning regarding Fintech firm Lanistar Ltd. The financial regulator has cautioned that they believe the company has been offering financial products or services in the UK without its authorization. The FCA noted that would-be investors must… Read More

November 19, 2020 @ 2:51 pm By JD Alois  |  

As was previously reported, the Securities and Exchange Commission, Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee met earlier this month to discuss the topic of Finders. Finders are individuals who match investors with firms in need of capital, perhaps for a fee. As there is a… Read More

November 19, 2020 @ 12:54 pm By JD Alois  |  

IMVU, an avatar-based social network, has received a No-Action Letter (NOL) from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) pertaining to a blockchain-based digital asset – VCOIN. The NOL states that the SEC will not take action on the digital asset because of the following: IMVU… Read More

November 19, 2020 @ 9:04 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Open Banking Fintech firm Nordic API Gateway has launched a platform, called Aiia, that aims to meet the opportunities of PSD2, which is a European regulation for digital payment services. PSD2 aims to make electronic payments more secure in Europe, support innovation and assist banking… Read More

November 19, 2020 @ 9:01 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Prominent digital bank Revolut has confirmed that it will support Open Banking for its customers in Germany. According to a release, the new Open Banking features will allow Revolut’s German customers to easily connect their accounts at Comdirect, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, ING-DiBa and Sparkasse with… Read More

November 18, 2020 @ 9:15 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Sygna Bridge, the “market-ready” solution developed for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) to fulfill the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendation 16’s “Travel Rule,” has reportedly become the very first FATF Travel Rule solution to go through an independent assessment by The Association of Cryptocurrency… Read More

November 17, 2020 @ 10:39 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has selected Nakamoto Terminal (NTerminal) as the winner of Project Streetlamp, the CFTC’s first competition under the Science Prize Competition Act of 2015. The CFTC states that as part of the competition NTerminal will also be recognized as the… Read More

November 16, 2020 @ 9:01 am By Omar Faridi  |  

After a three-year leave, co-founder Du Jun has returned to Huobi, a leading cryptocurrency exchange that reported $877.88 billion in trading volume during H1 2020. Jun had left Tencent and founded Huobi with Leon Li back in 2013. But then a few years later in… Read More

November 16, 2020 @ 8:43 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that Chairman Jay Clayton will depart the agency at the end of the year. The exit by Clayton has long been expected regardless of the outcome of the Presidential election. Clayton joined the SEC on May 4,… Read More

November 15, 2020 @ 3:35 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

China must ensure that financial innovation is able to maintain fair competition and doesn’t lead to the formation of oligopolies or entry barriers, according to Xiao Yuanqi, chief risk officer at the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBRIC). Xiao, whose comments came during the… Read More

November 14, 2020 @ 3:08 pm By Xu Gao  |  

China Releases Draft Version of “Online Micro-loan Operations Provisional Administrative Measures” On November 2nd, the People’s Bank of China (PBC) and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) jointly released the draft version of “Online Micro-loan Operations Provisional Administrative Measures” (hereinafter referred to as… Read More

November 14, 2020 @ 2:52 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Blockchain security firm Ciphertrace has noted that FinCEN’s suggested rule change for the Travel Rule Threshold would “more than double” compliance events for US-based virtual asset service providers or VASPs. CipherTrace confirms that FinCEN had released a proposed rule change (in October 2020). The recommendation… Read More

November 13, 2020 @ 6:26 pm By JD Alois  |  

The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) distributed a comment letter today outlining its opposition to the proposal by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s move to clarify the role of Finders. A Finder is an individual that finds investors for smaller firms. A lack of… Read More

November 13, 2020 @ 7:54 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced certain changes that are aimed at limiting the “risk of disruption” to Open Banking services after Brexit. The FCA’s changes are intended to allow UK-headquartered third-party providers (TPPs) to use an alternative to eIDAS certificates to gain… Read More

November 12, 2020 @ 5:17 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Chilean securities regulator, the Comision Para El Mercado Financiero (CMF), has posted draft regulations for Fintech including investment crowdfunding rules. The objective is to provide a regulatory framework for online capital formation. The CMF believes that a proportional, tech-neutral, framework will promote innovation in… Read More

November 12, 2020 @ 1:36 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is looking to boost its Fintech bench by hiring three individuals to help with legal issues regarding Fintech. According to a post on USAJOBS, responsibilities include: Analyzing and advising on the interpretation of statutes, common law, regulations, and legal… Read More

November 12, 2020 @ 8:24 am By JD Alois  |  

  The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has agreed to fast track the merger of Seedrs and Crowdcube – the two largest investment crowdfunding platforms based in the UK. The merging companies requested the fast track of the review to a Phase 2 stage… Read More