The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) has unsealed a fraud complaint against Swedish citizen Roger Nils-Jonas Karlsson and associated firm Eastern Metal Securities (EMS), according to a press release on June 19. According to the DoJ Karlsson and EMS are charged with committing securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. Specifically, Karlsson allegedly instructed investors to pay for his products using virtual currencies, such as the cryptocurrency bitcoin (BTC). According to the complaint, the EMS website was registered to a made-up person, and offered shares of “Pre Funded Reversed Pension Plan” of which investors could allegedly purchase shares at …

The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) launched action against a reportedly fraudulent $147 million bitcoin (BTC) scheme, the regulator announced on June 18. On June 17, the CFTC filed a complaint with the New York Southern District Court against now-defunct United Kingdom-based entity Control-Finance Ltd, which defrauded more than 1,000 investors to launder at least 22,858 bitcoin. The CFTC also brings actions against the entity’s head, Benjamin Reynolds, stating that Control-Finance and Reynolds “exploited public enthusiasm for Bitcoin” from May 1, 2017, to October 31, 2017. The action seeks civil monetary penalties, including “permanent trading and registration bans, …

United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo says that blockchain technology would have allowed for a “far faster, better-informed, and more calibrated regulatory intervention” in response to the 2008 financial crisis. Giancarlo made his remarks during a speech — entitled “The New Futurism: 21st Century Financial Markets, Technology and Regulation” — which was delivered at the Commissione Nazionale per le Societa e la Borsa (CONSOB) in Rome, Italy on June 3. Giancarlo devoted the first part of his speech to reflections on blockchain and the 2008 financial crisis — both in regard to the latter’s unfolding …

United States regulator the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is in talks with Facebook about its upcoming stablecoin launch, the Financial Times (FT) reported on June 2. Citing chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo, the publication revealed that Facebook is attempting to smooth out the regulatory landscape ahead of the asset, currently dubbed GlobalCoin, allegedly going live next year. “We’re very interested in understanding it better,” the FT quoted Giancarlo as saying, himself adding that at present, no formal request for regulatory clearance had appeared. “We can only act on an application, we don’t have anything in front of us,” he said. …

It is easy to think of the most prominent blockchain advocates as a united front, whose ranks are tightly closed in the face of the common enemy — a horde of fierce crypto critics, unwieldy regulators, anti-money laundering zealots, “bitcoin is a scam”-ers, and the stakeholders of the old, centralized financial system. On this battlefield, the crypto camp’s fundamental positions are aligned, and its strategic goals are clear. However, in the times of armistice, blockchain champions get together by the campfire to ponder the important details of their common cause, and — astonishingly — at times, they disagree. This time …

Coming every Sunday, the Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions, and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link. Top Stories This Week Bitstamp Starts Investigation After Large BTC Sell Leads to $250 Million Liquidated on BitMEX Major crypto exchange Bitstamp launched an investigation this week after a large bitcoin (BTC) sell order heavily impacted its order book. Bitstamp reported on the execution of the large bitcoin sell order from BTC to United States dollars, without specifying …

While it’s possible to buy top cryptocurrencies like bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) in the over-the-counter (OTC) market, most people will need an exchange in order to buy other altcoins. Exchanges are simply an important component of the system that makes the crypto market tick. Regulators around the world have identified this, which is why regulatory moves have primarily targeted exchanges. Regulators want to be sure that exchanges employ the best security practices as well as measures — Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering (AML), and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT), for instance — that discourage illicit transactions and …

Bakkt plans to roll out testing for bitcoin futures trading in early July 2019, Bakkt CEO Kelly Loeffler announced in a Medium post on May 13. First announced in August 2018, institutional crypto exchange Bakkt now announced that it will soon introduce bitcoin futures trading testing on a federally regulated futures exchange in collaboration with its parent company Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). Specifically, Bakkt is working with both ICE Futures U.S. exchange and ICE Clear U.S. clearinghouse to prepare the first testing of bitcoin futures trading and custody. Loeffler wrote: “In conjunction with our exchange and clearing partners at ICE, we’ll …

The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) is reportedly taking steps to ensure approval from the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for its bitcoin futures contracts platform — Bakkt. ICE, the operator of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), recently acquired a cryptocurrency custodial service and are mulling plans to register Bakkt as a licensed trust in the state of New York. If successful, these latest moves would see Bakkt become a registered bitcoin (BTC) custody platform. Recent reports also indicate that the company is in partnership with Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon for the storage of cryptocurrency security keys. …

The chairmen of two United States financial regulators, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) testified before Congress today, May 8. The hearings before the Senate Committee on Appropriations served to inform the Senate on the agencies’ budgetary needs while outlining various objectives and initiatives. In their respective testimonies, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton and CFTC Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo noted the importance of the agencies becoming literate in digital assets and blockchain technology. As per the Clayton, the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations at the SEC has named “digital assets, including cryptocurrencies, coins …

United States regulator the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is open to the idea of ether (ETH) futures trading, cryptocurrency industry news outlet CoinDesk reported on May 6. The publication quoted an unnamed official, who appeared to say that ETH-based futures would be a reasonable product for consideration and approval should it meet the CFTC’s various requirements. The comments come around 18 months after the first cryptocurrency futures contracts got the green light from the U.S. in December 2017. Launched by CBOE and CME Group, both futures contracts focused exclusively on bitcoin (BTC). “I think we can get comfortable with …

Former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Gary Gensler said that the cryptocurrency market needs regulation in order to grow, because consumers must be protected. Gensler shared his views with Cointelegraph at MIT Technology Review's Business of Blockchain 2019 on May 2. Speaking about the perspective on such services and products as custody and bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs), Gensler argued that for the market to prosper and potentially grow, investors should know that they have both investor and consumer protection embodied in the law in case of market manipulation or losing of private keys, among other issues. …