The United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s chairperson Gary Gensler announced this month that the crypto industry should not escape the purview of the regulator. He highlighted that decentralized finance (DeFi) trading and lending protocols need particular attention when it comes to investor protections. Regulation can extend into a menu of options that covers custody, reporting, counterparty verification and asset classification and issuance. Reports are surfacing that people are waiting with bated breath on how the SEC will regulate the DeFi industry, but Germany's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, also known as BaFin, has found a way to apply existing securities …
On May 26, Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli, a representative from the International Monetary Fund, stated that moving forward, the best way to harness the potential of central bank digital currencies would be by fostering synthetic partnerships between the private and public sectors. Further expounding his views on the matter, the deputy division chief of the IMF’s monetary capital and markets department stated that the vision behind CBDCs being completely under the control of a central bank is now an outdated one and that the entry of private players could help spur innovation. When asked about how such a partnership could even start …
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Russian analytical agency ICO Rating for $268,998 for violating anti-touting provisions, according to an announcement on Aug. 20. In the announcement, the SEC claimed that ICO Rating violated the anti-touting provisions of Section 17(b) of the Securities Act of 1933 by failing to disclose payments it received from initial coin offering (ICO) issuers it rated and published on its platform. Melissa Hodgman, Associate Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, said: “The securities laws require promoters, including both people and entities, to disclose compensation they receive for touting investments so that …
Chief executive officers of leading banks testified before the United States House of Representatives Financial Services Committee on April 10 on how the banking industry has transformed since the 2008 financial crisis. Among many topics spanning the breadth of the banking industry, the CEOs and lawmakers discussed blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. During his allotted time for questioning, Rep. Warren Davidson (R) argued that the industry is entering into a new era of innovation, wherein blockchain technology is transforming existing financial systems, as well as cybersecurity. Davidson also noted that the U.S. is currently staggering behind due to regulatory certainty issues. …
The U.S. Department of the Treasury released a study on the high-value art market, highlighting the potential in the nonfungible tokens (NFT) space to conduct illicit money laundering or terror financing operations. The treasury’s “Study of the facilitation of money laundering and terror finance through the trade in works of art” suggested that the increasing use of art as an investment or financial asset could make the high-value art trades vulnerable to money laundering: “The emerging online art market may present new risks, depending on the structure and incentives of certain activity in this sector of the market (i.e., the …