As the United Kingdom exits the European Union, a new ad campaign by French crypto hardware wallet firm Ledger is reviving one of the most divisive pro-Brexit slogans, “Take Back Control,” to ambiguous effect. An email shared with Cointelegraph on Jan. 30 revealed Ledger’s mock-up of a planned billboard for an installation in London’s Canary Wharf, one of the capital’s prime financial districts. Ledger’s plans for a digital billboard in London’s Canary Wharf. Shared with Cointelegraph via email The billboard reads ”Let’s Take Back Control For Real” — a modified version of the 2016 pro-Brexit campaign’s notorious “Take Back Control” …

Popular Bitcoin (BTC) exchange platform LocalBitcoins is allegedly suspending user accounts with little fanfare, citing an “enhanced due diligence process.” Finland-based LocalBitcoins, one of major global peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto exchanges, has reportedly suspended user accounts in some countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia without warning, with some users being unable to withdraw their Bitcoin, Forbes reports Jan. 25. LocalBitcoins gave no public statement on the matter when the first reports came about a week ago According to the report, the first complaints started coming in last week, with LocalBitcoins users in countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Syria, and …

The year 2019, for a short while, raised expectations that stablecoins would bring about mass adoption of cryptocurrencies. 2020, however, seems to be dousing those hopes with ever-tightening regulation that is putting pressure on investors and companies alike. The first complication came only 10 days into the year. In early January, the European Union’s landmark Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, or 5AMLD, was signed into law. The law is the latest evolution of the EU’s response to the Panama Papers scandal, in which a leak of over 11 million documents uncovered the opaque financial networks used by the world’s richest and …

Deribit, a crypto futures and options exchange that is moving from the Netherlands to Panama to avoid Europe’s new Anti-Money Laundering law has released its newly updated Know Your Customer (KYC) policy. In a Jan. 17 blog post, Deribit clearly said that its relocation to Panama has been mainly caused by the new Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD), a major European law that aims to tackle money laundering and terrorist financing by stricter regulation of crypto-related businesses. While 5AMLD was enforced on Jan. 10, 2010, 5AMLD has not been adopted in the Netherlands to date, but is still expected to come …

The central banks of Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, European Union, Sweden and Switzerland created a group with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) to jointly research central bank digital currencies (CBDC). According to a press release published by the Bank of England on Jan. 21, the aforementioned institutions will share their experience with other group members as they study potential use cases for CBDCs in their respective jurisdictions. The announcement states: “The group will assess CBDC use cases; economic, functional and technical design choices, including cross-border interoperability; and the sharing of knowledge on emerging technologies. It will closely coordinate …

This week’s news from Japan included additional comments against crypto trading from China, Binance’s potential involvement in Japan, positivity from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), more crypto exits from European Union (EU) regions, and stablecoin positivity from France. Check out some of this week’s crypto and blockchain headlines, originally reported by Cointelegraph Japan. China reaffirms its stance against crypto trading Crypto-hostile China has once again confirmed its ban on crypto asset trading, according to comments from Beijing’s director of Financial Supervisory Administration Huo Xuewen. "Virtual currencies cannot be used as legitimate digital currencies," Huo said to a Chinese news outlet …

On Jan. 10, the European Union’s 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD), was officially signed into law. The legislation will give sweeping powers to compliance organizations and law authorities. However, aside from tracking dirty money to offshore paradises, the law brings about a series of restrictive demands on crypto companies in a way never seen before. This development cuts into the notion that, in the past, the world’s richest people comfortably diverted money across borders through a financial framework that operates firmly in a legal grey area, which has long lingered in the public consciousness. Until 2016, it seemed as if …

Data privacy has long been seen as one of the major non-monetary usages of blockchain technology. Many governments and corporations are already running recordkeeping systems based on distributed ledgers to securely store internal data. Tech enthusiasts believe that blockchain has the potential to revolutionize personal data and identity management for private citizens as well, yet these hopes remain largely aspirational so far. One of the reasons for that is regulatory uncertainty: Lawmakers around the globe are having a hard time catching up with data security challenges that the sprawling online economy poses. In 2019, the regulators accelerated their efforts to …

Crypto traders see potential for other market platforms to exit after crypto derivatives exchange Deribit announced a move to Panama from its EU base in the Netherlands. "This is something they had hinted at in an interview months ago, and it’s something I fully expect we see more of going forward in the crypto space,” trader, Twitter personality and co-host of the Crypto Street Podcast Prince told Cointelegraph in a message. Exiting EU Deribit broke the news on Jan. 9, explaining its platform will move to Panama from the Netherlands, owing to stringent EU regulations the Netherlands may soon adopt, …

Crypto derivatives exchange Deribit is leaving the European Union for Panama to avoid new AML rules while changing its Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements. Deribit B.V., the current Netherlands-based company responsible for the Deribit.com exchange, will officially delegate the trading platform to its daughter company, DRB Panama Inc. on Feb. 10, 2020, a Jan. 9 statement from Deribit said. Changing regulatory winds Deribit has decided to transfer to Panama based on the stated likelihood of tightening regulatory demands in the Netherlands, resulting from similar demands seen across the EU, the Deribit statement noted. These requirements, known as 5AMLD, pertain to …

After BottlePay’s shutdown announcement last week, two more European cryptocurrency firms have shut down because of the upcoming Anti-Money Laundering (AML) rules in the European Union. Online crypto gaming platform ChopCoin and mining pool Simplecoin both announced that they are shutting down in under a month in a notice on their website. Both firms cite the EU’s upcoming Anti-Money Laundering Directive that would require the firms to adopt Know Your Client (KYC) measures as the reason for shutting down. Stringent reporting requirements Simplecoin explains that the EU’s proposed directive will subject its service to a wide range of AML and …

Swiss cryptocurrency financial firm Amun AG has gained permission to offer its products to retail clients in the European Union. In a press release issued on Dec. 10, Amun confirmed it had received approval for a base prospectus it filed with Sweden’s finance regulator, the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (SFSA). Amun praises supportive Swedish regulations Following regulatory approval, the firm can now market its various exchange-traded products (ETPs) to retail clients throughout the EU. “We recognise that the regulatory framework in Sweden has been supportive of such initiatives and we welcome its deliberation,” Ophelia Snyder, president of Amun, commented in …