It’s been nearly eight months since the Financial Action Task Force issued its divisive crypto directives, establishing traditional banking regulations within the crypto sector. With the year-long adoption deadline fast approaching, how have the world’s regulatory authorities responded to the guidelines so far? The FATF — an intergovernmental organization tasked with combating money laundering — found itself at the center of controversy last June after issuing its latest crypto guidance. The directive merged the cryptocurrency industry into existing banking policy, requiring firms to comply with the same requirements as traditional financial institutions. Among the more notable directives is the travel …

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), a global financial market infrastructure giant, says traditional IT security frameworks must be updated to tackle the blockchain. An official press release on Feb. 12 took note of the expected rise in adoption of distributed ledger technology like blockchains in financial services globally. The DTCC has published a new white paper, Security of DLT Networks, which recommends the creation of a comprehensive, DLT-specific Security Framework and, potentially, an Industry Consortium that would spearhead research into standards and guidelines for the sector. New benefits, new risks In its white paper, DTCC notes that at …

An open-source blockchain platform has deepened its partnership with a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange operating on its network. Neo, a blockchain platform with an international community and a part of the Neo Foundation, says it has been amplifying its support for high-potential developers and participants through its EcoBoost program — and Switcheo, an exchange that leverages atomic swaps to link multiple blockchains, is the latest to benefit. Per executives from Switcheo and Neo, both parties will deepen their technical cooperation, underscoring both parties’ commitment to realizing the smart economy of the future. As part of a joint commitment “to an open …

Mainstream financial entities are beginning to see Bitcoin (BTC) as a non-correlated asset, a concept Morgan Creek Digital Co-founder Anthony Pompliano has been promoting for over a year. “If Bitcoin is not likely to correlate to economic factors, or to traditional equities and fixed income securities, then Bitcoin could serve as a portfolio diversification tool,” said chief economist at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Bluford Putnam said in a Feb. 11 video on Finbold. Bitcoin’s price does not move in stride with traditional markets Since Bitcoin is a new kind of borderless and decentralized asset, it makes sense that it would …

The United Kingdom’s major financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), is looking to hire a specialist with a cryptocurrency background. Specifically, the FCA is seeking an intelligence associate with crypto expertise to address digital assets under the European Union's 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive, the regulator said in a LinkedIn job posting on Feb. 6. Also known as 5AMLD, the new law came into effect on Jan. 10 and represents a major effort to tackle money laundering and terrorism financing across Europe, as previously reported. Expert will join the FCA’s core function team While the United Kingdom finally exited the …

Decentralized apps (DApp) continue to be a major focus point for developers in the crypto space. However, 2019 ended with DApps still far off from reaching their much-touted potential of being the “future of the internet.” DApp projects in 2019 continued to suffer from their usual issues like poor user retention and the difficulties of navigating user interfaces (UI), among others. While some projects boast market capitalizations north of $100 million, they fail to attract more than a handful of daily users. In the early weeks of 2020, some analytics firms dedicated to monitoring the DApp ecosystem have released reports …

If mainstream finance does not adopt new technologies, such as those seen in blockchain and crypto, they will fall behind, according to a few experts’ comments at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos Switzerland. Answering a question on comparing this year’s event to last year’s, Monero’s former lead maintainer Riccardo Spagni noted the same presence of “old school” bank and regulatory personalities. Spagni, also known as Fluffypony, told Cointelegraph in a Jan. 21 interview: “I think by a lot of events like this one and some of the other blockchain events, we’re starting to show them that if they …

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is now the United Kingdom's sole Anti-Money Laundering (AML) authority for the crypto business. After a decade of compliance under a laissez-faire approach to AML legislation, U.K.-based crypto firms now face a significantly more stringent set of rules. With the FCA thrashing U.K. crypto regulation into shape, the consequences upon start-ups, user privacy and adoption will likely be wide-reaching. In its early stages, decentralized finance (DeFi) has uncovered a bounty of possibilities within the economic sector. From borderless banking to using blockchain technology, DeFi is leading a comprehensive coup d'état against an entrenched financial industry. …

Chinese blockchain spending in areas of investment and financing deals has dropped over 40% in 2019, according to a new study by state-run sources. Over the course of 2019, China totally had 245 investment and financing deals, which is nearly 60% less than in the preceding year. Chinese blockchain investment spending has seen the biggest numbers in 2018 According to a joint study by China’s government-run financial information and media firm Xinhua and financial data platform Rhino Data, the total amount spent in blockchain investment deals has accounted for 24.4 billion Chinese yuan ($3.6 billion). Officially released by Xinhua Finance …

Decentralized exchange project Bancor (BNT) is currently in the midst of launching a massive airdrop to all its token holders. Cointelegraph took the occasion to interview Co-founder and Product Architect Eyal Hertzog, and Head of Growth Nate Hindman. The duo shared their thoughts on the airdrop, existing trends in decentralized finance (DeFi) and Bancor’s upcoming transition to a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO). Engaging the community through an airdrop In November, Bancor announced an airdrop of ETHBNT to all those who held its BNT token as of Jan. 1. The airdrop gives the equivalent value of 10 percent of the wallet’s …

Suspected crypto con artists are once again using the likeness of British financial expert Martin Lewis to defraud unsuspecting victims. In 2019, Lewis settled a defamation suit against Facebook for similar Bitcoin (BTC) scam adverts. Instagram says deceptive advertisements have no place on its platform and plans to continue improving its detection protocols for such content. Social platforms have been known to censor crypto-related content, instituting blanket bans on crypto ads on several occasions. However, Facebook has recently relaxed this policy amid the roll-out of its own digital currency project. The social media giant is one of the main backers …

New York lawmakers proposed a bill on a peer-to-peer (P2P) savings and payment platform called the “New York Inclusive Value Ledger.” Introduced by New York State Assembly legislator Ron Kim and Senator Julia Salazar, the bill proposes to set up the “empire state inclusive value ledger establishment and administration act” that would create a system of wallets for payments by state entities and residents. According to public records, the bill was proposed in the State Assembly and the State Senate on Oct. 23, 2019, but New York State’s legislative session only reopened on Wednesday Jan. 8. Kim says that implementing …