Members of the Group of 20 (G-20), an international forum for the governments and central banks of countries with developed and developing economies, addressed cryptocurrencies in their recent declaration on sustainable development of the global economy. Declaration summary: Crypto is important, but it needs to be put under scrutiny and tax regulations On Dec. 1, the G-20 declaration titled “Building Consensus for Fair and Sustainable Development” was published on the official website of the Council of the European Union and the European Council. The document summarized the 13th gathering of G-20 nations that took place on Nov. 30 and Dec. …

Seven southern European Union member states have released a declaration calling for help in the promotion of Distributed Ledger Technology’s (DLT) use in the region, the Financial Times (FT) reports Dec. 4. The declaration was reportedly initiated by Malta and signed by six other member states, France, Italy, Cyprus, Portugal, Spain and Greece, during a meeting of EU transport ministers in Brussels on Tuesday. The participating governments explained that DLT –– one type of which is blockchain –– could be a “game changer” for southern EU economies. Namely, the document cites “education, transport, mobility, shipping, Land Registry, customs, company registry, …

Global retail giant Auchan is expanding TE-FOOD’s blockchain solution to improve the transparency of products’ history, U.S.-based news agency Cision PRWeb reports today, Dec. 4. The French retail group, which is reportedly the 13th largest food retailer globally with operations in 17 countries, has extended TE-FOOD’s FoodChain solution to five more countries. FoodChain is the international traceability information ledger by TE-FOOD, first applied by Auchan in its Vietnam branch. After a 18-month test of TE-FOOD’s blockchain tool in Vietnam, Auchan has now decided to deploy the products’ traceability solution in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Senegal. The blockchain-powered retail monitoring …

26 French companies and five major banks have completed a Know Your Customer (KYC) test based on blockchain, according to a press release by the entrant firm RCI Bank and Services released Dec. 3. RCI Bank and Services, a French automotive financing and insurance firm unveiled details of a customer knowledge-focused blockchain solution trialed in partnership with blockchain consortium R3. According to the press release, the Proof-of-Concept (PoC) test has been conducted in cooperation with the Association Française des Trésoriers d'Entreprise (AFTE), a local network of treasury and finance professionals. As revealed by a participant of the test, RCI Bank …

The lawyer for Alexander Vinnik, the alleged former operator of defunct cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e, has said that a district court in Cyprus has withdrawn their lawsuit on charges “of fraud, money laundering and other crimes.” This development was reported by state-operated Russian news agency RIA Novosti Nov. 27. Timofey Musatov, the head of the lawyers’ group representing Vinnik, has said that the district court of Limassol city has formally granted the plaintiffs’ petition to recall their lawsuit against Vinnik and even ruled “to compensate the defendant for all legal costs incurred by him.” Musatov added: “The case against Alexander collapsed …

French stock market regulator, the Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF), has jointly issued a warning with the country’s central bank and French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR) recalling the risks associated with “speculative” crypto assets. The warning was posted as a press release on the AMF official website Nov. 26. The three entities’ joint announcement has been issued in explicit response to recent news that France’s tobacco federation, the Fédération des Buralistes, had obtained permission to sell Bitcoin (BTC) at tobacconists as of January 2019. The AMF, ACPR, and Banque de France have today firmly stated that: “[We] recall …

The lawyer for Alexander Vinnik, the alleged former operator of defunct cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e, said his defendant will go on a hunger strike this Monday, Russian state-owned news outlet TASS reported Nov. 23. According to Timofey Musatov, the head of the lawyers representing Vinnik, the reason given for the hunger strike is that “he [Vinnik] was stripped of the right for defense in France and, consequently, in Greece.” The lawyer also noted that “it became clear that the [French-issued] European arrest warrant expired.” In 2017, Greece’s supreme court ruled to extradite Vinnik to the U.S., where he faces charges of …

France’s tobacco federation, the Fédération des Buralistes, has obtained permission to sell Bitcoin (BTC) at tobacconists from January 2019, privately owned French radio network Europe 1 reported Nov. 21. In a deal with French cryptocurrency wallet provider KeplerK, beginning early next year, up to 4,000 small shops will sell Bitcoin vouchers that customers can then exchange for cryptocurrency on KeplerK’s website when they open a wallet. BTC will be available in denominations of 50, 100 and 250 euros and will subsequently roll out to remaining outlets. According to Europe 1, it was the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR), …

The lawyer representing the alleged former operator of now-defunct crypto exchange BTC-e, Alexander Vinnik, has accused the Greek Supreme Court of “grossly violating” his rights, major Russian state-owned news agency TASS reported Nov. 19. 39-year old Russian national Vinnik, a.k.a “Mr. Bitcoin,” was indicted by U.S. authorities and detained in Greece on July 25, 2017 on criminal charges of fraud and laundering up to $4 billion in Bitcoin (BTC) via BTC-e. Russia and France have since both sought the defendant’s extradition in regard to a further series of fraud allegations. When a Thessaloniki court ruled in support of Vinnik’s extradition …

The Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) industry in France represents a minor part of the global ICO market, according to a report on ICOs released by French financial markets regulator AMF (l'Autorité des marchés financiers) today, Nov. 14. According to the recent study, the global ICO market has accounted for 19.4 billion euros ($21.8 billion) since 2014. Having experienced rapid growth since 2016, most of the market share has mainly been concentrated in 2017 and during the first three quarters of 2018, with 13.4 billion euros ($15 billion) raised within this latter period. As the AMF reported, France has accounted for …

The Finance Committee of the lower house of French parliament has adopted amendments to a tax bill that ease taxes on cryptocurrency sales, daily French newspaper Le Figaro reports Wednesday, Nov. 7. The amendments adopted by Finance Committee of the National Assembly refer to a draft of the government finance bill (PLF) for 2019. If the final version of the document is approved by a broader parliament, whose hearings are scheduled for next week, the tax on crypto sales will be equal to capital income tax. Currently crypto income is taxed at a rate of 36.2 percent. If the amendments …

Spain’s second largest bank, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), has carried out a blockchain-based syndicated loan of $150 million, U.K.-based global financial news agency Finextra reports Wednesday, Nov. 7. The syndicated bank transaction has been conducted on a private blockchain network through a group of three funding banks including French banking group BNP Paribas, Japan’s bank holding Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), and BBVA. Acting as the sole underwriter of the transaction, BBVA also secured the participation of a partly state-owned Spanish company Red Eléctrica de España, as well as two legal advisors, U.K.-based multinational law firms Linklaters and Herbert …