After climbing to dizzy heights last year, markets are hemorrhaging value as prices plummet since the beginning of this year. Expensive assets that were worth millions of dollars as recently as last year have crashed from their earlier valuations. One of the world’s biggest financial instruments careened to a sudden and spectacular crash in less than a month, further deepening distrust of a financial system … Continue reading Can Crypto Handle A Recession?
The United States remains the world’s biggest center for bitcoin mining, according to a new report from the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance (CCAF). The country accounted for 37.84% of global hashrate – the amount of computing power deployed to mine bitcoin – in the period between September 2021 to January 2022. China, which banned bitcoin mining last May, was responsible for 21.11% of the … Continue reading Bitcoin Mining in China; Crypto’s Play in Primaries; Meta Still Has Crypto Ambitions
There is never a dull moment in crypto. On any given day, there is a scam or a hack. On others, there is a controversy. The latest kerfuffle in cryptoland involves an NFT sale (what else?) and highlights two persistent problems: high transaction fees and regulatory uncertainty. The Otherdeed Mint: A Troubled Sale It started when Yuga Labs – the company behind the Bored Ape … Continue reading The Otherdeed Sale Highlights Crypto’s Persistent Problems
In his appearances between lawmakers after becoming the chief of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Chairman Gary Gensler referred to the cryptocurrency ecosystem as a “Wild West” and requested greater authority and funding to police it. In a press release yesterday, the agency said it was adding 20 new positions to its Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit. The new additions bring the total number of … Continue reading SEC Adds Staff To Its Crypto Division; Could Signal Clarity In Regulation
With an acceleration in “cryptoization” of emerging market currencies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is calling for capital controls for cryptocurrency businesses. The agency issued a report Tuesday that outlined measures for instituting regulation on the emerging asset class. Crypto: A Threat to Global Financial Stability As a result of the “cryptoization,” trading volumes for cryptocurrencies against those for emerging markets spiked following Russia’s invasion … Continue reading IMF Calls For Capital Controls and Regulation In Crypto
The UK’s temporary registration regime, introduced in Dec. 2020, was supposed to enable crypto firms to continue their trading operations until they received final approval from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). But successive extensions to the regime and delays to the final approval deadline have forced them to seek regulatory approval outside the UK. The current deadline for approval is March 31, 2022. According to … Continue reading Crypto Firms Exit UK Before FCA Deadline for Registration
Is decentralized finance (DeFi) a revolutionary reinvention of modern finance that should remain outside the bounds of regulation? Or is it jargon – algorithmic authority window-dressed as liberty and accompanied by the same problems as traditional finance – that should be hemmed in by rules? A new paper by Hilary J. Allen, Professor at the American University Washington College of Law, argues for the latter … Continue reading Does DeFi Need Regulation?
The cryptocurrency industry is going to Washington. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, crypto companies are spending big bucks to hire former regulators and government officials to increase their influence on policymaking. The revolving door between government agencies and private enterprise, at least in the case of cryptocurrencies, has gathered speed in recent times after a bull market in prices and new … Continue reading Crypto Makes Moves in Washington
President Joe Biden today signed an executive order to develop a framework and formulate a ‘whole-of-government approach’ to cryptocurrencies. The order tasks government agencies with coordinating amongst themselves to focus on six key areas of research: consumer and investor protection; financial stability; illicit finance; U.S. leadership in the global financial system and economic competitiveness; financial inclusion; and responsible innovation. While individual agencies within the U.S … Continue reading Does Biden’s Executive Order On Cryptoassets Make A Difference?
In the annals of crypto history, initial coin offerings (ICOs) were the latest innovation until they weren’t. After briefly eclipsing traditional forms of venture financing, ICOs have largely been relegated to the sidelines of the fundraising ecosystem after an SEC crackdown. A glance at the moribund market for coin offerings during the first quarter of 2019 revealed distressing news. Coin offerings, which had raised $6.9 … Continue reading Can SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce’s Proposal Revive the ICO Market?
The European Union may soon develop a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies. At a confirmation hearing for his reappointment, Valdis Dombrovkis, the European Union’s financial commissioner, said that he intended to propose new legislation for cryptocurrencies. “Europe needs a common approach on crypto-assets such as Libra,” he said. Dombrovkis, who is the former Prime Minister of Latvia, made those remarks while discussing the use of financial … Continue reading EU Needs a Common Approach to Crypto-Assets: EU Financial Commissioner
Bitfinex and Tether, already embroiled in a case with the New York Attorney General, were hit by a class-action lawsuit this morning. The suit was filed by Roche Freedman LLP, a law firm that successfully won a case against supposed Bitcoin creator Craig Wright recently. Their current lawsuit alleges that Bitfinex and Tether concocted a scheme that was “part-fraud, part-pump-and-dump, and part-money laundering” to “defraud … Continue reading Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Bitfinex and Tether for Fueling “Largest Bubble in Human History”
The SEC has settled with another coin for an unregistered securities offering. Nebulous, a Boston-based company behind the Sia network – a decentralized cloud storage company, has agreed to pay $225,000 as penalty for conducting an offering worth $120,000 for SiaNotes, a token it intended to develop for purchase and sale of storage space on its network in 2014. The SEC’s order points out several … Continue reading SEC Settles with Nebulous over its 2014 Offering
Longfin Corp., a company that generated news cycles at the height of crypto mania in 2017, has been ordered by a federal court judge to pay the SEC a $6.8 million penalty for a fraudulent public offering of its tokens and for conducting sham commodities transactions. Longfin was previously in the news for its acquisition of a crypto company Ziddu.com, an action that resulted in … Continue reading Federal Court Orders Longfin, Whose Stock Price Soared During Crypto Mania, to Pay $6.8 Million Penalty for Fraudulent Offering
Block.One, which conducted the world’s biggest initial coin offering (ICO) last year, has agreed to settle with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) for an unregistered sale of securities. As part of the settlement, Block.One will pay a one-time penalty of $24 million. The federal agency noted that Block.One conducted its offering after publication of the DAO Report of Investigation, a 2017 report that examined the … Continue reading The World’s Biggest ICO Settles with the SEC for Securities Violation
To reassure regulators about the legal status of assets listed on their platforms, leading crypto firms and exchanges within the United States have formed a council to assign ratings for tokens. The Crypto Ratings Council counts top-tier crypto exchanges, such as Coinbase and Kraken, and firms like Grayscale Investment and Cumberland Mining as members. It rates tokens based on previous court decisions and SEC statements … Continue reading Coinbase and Others Want to Rate Cryptoassets But Their System has Several Problems
A subsidiary of securities platform Harbor has been granted a broker-dealer license by FINRA. According to online publication Coindesk, awarding of the broker dealer license to Harbor Square Investments may clear the way for other broker-dealers who deal exclusively in cryptoassets to gain approval from the agency. A broker-dealer license allows trading platforms to perform several activities, such as selling and purchasing securities for customers, … Continue reading Harbor Subsidiary is Awarded Broker-Dealer License
Approximately twenty months after it first listed a multitude of concerns as reasons for its refusal of a Bitcoin ETF, the SEC has come to the same moment of reckoning. The next couple of weeks are critical for Bitcoin ETFs as the agency takes a decision on applications filed by New York-based Wilshire Phoenix and San Francisco’s Bitwise Asset Management. The prospects of approval for … Continue reading A Time of Reckoning for Bitcoin ETFs
In a Congressional testimony to the House Financial Services Committee yesterday, SEC chairman Jay Clayton indicated that Facebook’s cryptocurrency Libra might be a security token. “If what you are doing is raising capital for a project with the idea that you are going to give a return as a result of investing in that (token), then Libra sounds like a security,” he said. Clayton prefaced … Continue reading Libra Sounds Like a Security: SEC Chairman Jay Clayton
New York’s BitLicense regulation has already drawn the ire of crypto advocacy groups and startups since it was introduced in 2014. Crypto businesses bolted from the state, blaming the law’s onerous requirements for their departure. Now a small business entrepreneur is calling for an abolition for an abolition of the license in a lawsuit filed with the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). Filed … Continue reading New York Crypto Business Files Lawsuit Calling for Abolition of BitLicense
Investment firm VanEck, which had applied for a Bitcoin ETF earlier this year along with SolidX, withdrew its application on Sep. 13th, according to a filing posted on the SEC website this evening. The federal agency was due to issue a final decision on their application by October 18th. Today’s application withdrawal leaves just two more players in the Bitcoin ETF fray: Wilshire Phoenix and … Continue reading VanEck Withdraws Bitcoin ETF Application After Launching Fund for Institutional Investors
