The Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seeking to bring cryptocurrencies under its scope and beef up its authority over the local cryptocurrency industry under new draft rules. According to a Jan. 25 report in local media outlet, the Manila Bulletin, the securities regulator put forward for public comment draft rules relating to financial products and services which also cover cryptocurrencies and digital financial products. The SEC said in a statement the draft rules will operationalize a newly signed law and give it “rule-making, surveillance, inspection, market monitoring, and more enforcement powers.” The guidelines expand the definition of a …

Australia’s financial regulator reportedly raised concerns over FTX’s local Australian subsidiary as much as eight months before the exchange met its untimely end in November. According to documents obtained by Guardian Australia, officers of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) were concerned about the way in which FTX Australia was operating as it was able to obtain a license in the country through a company takeover. As per a previous report from Cointelegraph, FTX acquired its Australian financial services license (AFSL) by taking over financial institution IFS Markets in December 2021 before opening up for business months later in …

Panama's crypto bill saga has reached a new chapter, with the country's Supreme Court deciding the future of the local crypto industry. Panama's President Laurentino Cortizo sent on Jan. 26 the Bill No. 697, dubbed the "crypto bill," to the high court for review and approval, after objecting to the legislation, claiming it violated the constitution's core principles and was unenforceable. The Supreme Court must now decide whether to declare the legislation unenforceable or to approve it with modifications. According to an official statement, the government considers articles 34 and 36 of the bill unenforceable, since they violate the state's …

The Ministry of Justice in South Korea announced plans to introduce a crypto tracking system to counter money laundering initiatives and recover funds linked to criminal activities. The ‘Virtual Currency Tracking System’ will be used to monitor transaction history, extract information related to transactions and check the source of funds before and after remittance, according to local media outlet khgames. The South Korean Ministry of Justice will introduce a "cryptocurrency tracking system" in the first half of this year to strengthen the tracking of money laundering and recovery of criminal proceeds using cryptocurrencies. https://t.co/2CLkaLUrX6 — Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) January 29, …

Is crypto lending dead, or does it just need better execution? That’s a question asked with more urgency in the wake of Genesis Global Capital Jan. 19 bankruptcy filing. That, in turn, followed the demise of other prominent crypto lenders, including Celsius Network and Voyager Digital in July 2022, and BlockFi, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in late November 2022. Unlike many traditional creditors, like banks, cryptocurrency lenders aren’t required to have capital or liquidity buffers to help them weather hard times. The collateral they hold — cryptocurrencies — typically suffer from high volatility; thus, when markets plunge, …

With the deadline approaching for filing the 2022 federal income tax return, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) — an enforcement agency of U.S. federal tax laws — released a list of reporting requirements for the general public dealing with cryptocurrencies. Until 2021, the IRS used the term ‘virtual currencies’ in income tax-related reporting forms, which have been updated to ‘digital assets.’ All US citizens must answer questions about cryptocurrencies “regardless of whether they engaged in any transactions involving digital assets.” The question about digital asset income features in three forms — 1040, Individual Income Tax Return; 1040-SR, U.S. Tax Return …

The White House released a statement on Jan. 27 that provided the United States President Joe Biden administration a roadmap for mitigating risks associated with cryptocurrencies. Much of the document was addressed to the U.S. Congress with the administration’s legislative guidance. The authors of the statement outlined a two-pronged path forward. They wrote: “We have spent the past year identifying the risks of cryptocurrencies and acting to mitigate them using the authorities that the Executive Branch has.” The first element in the road map is the administration’s “first-ever” comprehensive framework for digital asset development released in September. That document was …

Federal prosecutors have requested that former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's (SBF) bail conditions are modified to prevent further alleged attempts at influencing witnesses’ testimonies. Court documents filed on Jan. 27 revealed that The Department of Justice (DOJ) have asked U.S. District Court Judge LewiKaplan to ban Bankman-Fried from communicating with “current or former employees” of FTX or Alameda. The prosecutors have requested this after they alleged that Bankman-Fried had reached out to Ryne Miller, the current General Counsel of FTX US, on Jan. 15 attempting to “influence” Miller’s testimony. The document stated: “I would really love to reconnect and see …

The United States Federal Reserve Board announced Jan. 27 that it was issuing a policy statement on limitations on banks. The policy seeks to create a level playing field and limit regulatory arbitrage for state banks with deposit insurance, state banks without deposit insurance and national banks, which are overseen by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), by allowing them the same scope of permissible activities. The new policy will limit the activities of state banks by not allowing them to engage in activities not permitted by national banks unless state legislation allows it. In the Federal …

A bill introduced to the New York State Assembly on Jan. 26 would allow state agencies to accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment for fines, civil penalties, taxes, fees, and other payments charged by the state. JUST IN: A New York Senate has introduced a bill to allow #Crypto as a form of payment — Interpret Crypto (@interpretcrypto) January 27, 2023 New York State Assembly Bill A523 was introduced by Democratic Assemblymember Clyde Vanel, who is often seen as a crypto-friendly politician. It allows state agencies to enter into “agreements with persons to provide the acceptance, by offices of …

The Federal Reserve Board has rejected Custodia Bank’s application to become a member of the Federal Reserve System. In its announcement, the Fed stated that the application was “inconsistent with the required factors under the law.” It also claimed Custodia had an “insufficient” management framework and cited an earlier joint declaration by the Fed with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency that found crypto assets to be at odds with sound banking practices. STATEMENT FROM CUSTODIA BANK about today's Federal Reserve action on its membership application. Its master account application remains pending: pic.twitter.com/QkMjcT508J …

Controversial law firm Sullivan & Cromwell is on track to reap a fortune from its work on the bankruptcy case of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, according to a new report. Sullivan & Cromwell’s costs in the FTX case are estimated to reach hundreds of millions of dollars before the firm’s bankruptcy investigation is over, Bloomberg Law reported on Jan. 27. As the FTX trial is scheduled for October 2023, the firm’s lawyers now have about eight months to untangle the complicated FTX case, which will cost a lot of time and money. Sullivan & Cromwell has more than 150 people …