When Michael Corleone ordered hits on rival bosses in The Godfather, he had Don Cuneo locked inside a revolving door and shot. Getting whacked while trapped behind a barred door appears to be the treatment United States Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler has in mind for U.S. crypto projects based on recent SEC
Regulation
American lawmakers and regulators continue to compete in their creative efforts to propose anything but comprehensive game rules for the crypto industry. Senators Edward Markey and Richard Blumenthal have penned a letter asking Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to deny young adults access to the firm’s metaverse platform. According to the two lawmakers, allowing teenagers between
Iran is moving forward with its central bank digital currency (CBDC) plans, completing preliminary research for the launch of a potential digital rial. The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has completed a pre-pilot phase in the development of Iran’s CBDC, according to an official statement by CBI’s research arm, the Monetary and Banking Research Institute
With rising temperatures, melting ice caps and more frequent and intense extreme weather events, the effects of climate change are becoming more and more obvious. There is an urgent need to prevent climate change, and numerous technologies and methods are being investigated to do so. Blockchain technology is one of these possibilities, and it has
Update (March 5, 9:22 p.m. UTC): This article has been updated to include Binance’s response. Crypto exchange Binance sought to hire Gary Gensler as an advisor before he became chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), according to a Wall Street Journal report based on messages and documents from 2018 and 2020,
Ukraine temporarily suspended the use of its national currency, the hryvnia, via banking cards for fiat deposits and withdrawals on crypto exchanges. While the move immediately impacted how investors move funds to and from exchanges, Binance reminded users about how peer-to-peer (P2P) services come in handy when trading cryptocurrencies. Following the temporary suspension from Ukraine’s
India’s recently launched in-house central bank digital currency (CBDC) — the digital rupee — is now being tested for offline functionality, revealed Ajay Kumar Choudhary, executive director of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The RBI — India’s central bank and regulatory body — launched the wholesale segment pilot for the digital rupee on Nov. 1, 2022,
Austin Federa, head of strategy at the Solana Foundation, spoke to Cointelegraph at the ETHDenver conference on the network’s outages, the impact of regulation on other projects, and the launch of its mobile device. Federa said the New York Department of Financial Services — or NYDFS, one of the state regulators responsible for licensing crypto
Two United States lawmakers have criticized crypto accounting guidelines outlined by the national securities regulator, arguing they places crypto customers at greater risk of loss. The guidelines came from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and became effective in April last year. The guidelines ask financial companies holding crypto for customers to recognize all
Silvergate Bank — a prominent lender to crypto firms — lost five partners on March 2 due to a slew of investigations and lawsuits against it. Coinbase, Paxos, Gemini, BitStamp and Galaxy Digital were some of the most notable crypto firms using Silvergate as their banking partner. However, the termination of service by Coinbase has
Some Celsius customers have reported being able to withdraw funds from the bankrupt crypto firm for the first time, some 263 days after the lender froze withdrawals in the lead-up to its bankruptcy filing. According to numerous social media posts, as of Mar. 2, certain customers who held funds in Celsius’ Custody accounts have been
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced that it had terminated its partnership with Silvergate Bank as its United States dollar banking partner, citing an ongoing investigation. In a tweet, the exchange said: “In light of recent developments & out of an abundance of caution, Coinbase is no longer accepting or initiating payments to or from Silvergate.“ The
Amid various reports about Binance trying to revive its crypto licensing plans in Singapore, the crypto exchange has set the record straight. Binance told Cointelegraph that Ceffu, its “independent institutional custody partner,” will apply for an institutional crypto custody license when Singapore’s central bank opens applications. Singapore has established itself as a hub for crypto
Around 20% of banks have exposure to crypto assets, a Bank for International Settlements (BIS) report released Feb. 28 found. The majority of those banks are in the Western Hemisphere. According to the report — which is based on data from the first half of 2022 — 17 Group 1 banks reported approximately 2.9 billion
Coinbase has launched a grassroots political campaign to promote pro-crypto policies, according to a Feb. 28 Twitter thread from the company. The company said that the #Crypto435 campaign is intended to “grow the crypto advocacy community and share tools and resources” so that crypto users can make their voices heard in all 435 congressional districts.
The French National Assembly has voted in favor of legislating stricter licensing rules for new cryptocurrency firms in order to harmonize local laws with proposed European Union (EU) standards. The vote was passed with 109 votes (60.5%) in favor to 71 (39.5%) against. With the French Senate having already passed the bill, it will now
The crypto industry has been raising its lobbying efforts amid the crypto winter that began last year. In 2022, market participants spent $25.57 million on lobbying in the United States. This number appears in a study published by the Money Mongers on Feb. 23. The count is based on data from OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan nonprofit, tracking the
Cryptocurrency lawyers have rebuffed comments made by the head of the United States securities regulator, who claimed in a recent interview that every cryptocurrency except Bitcoin (BTC) is a security that falls under its jurisdiction. In a wide-ranging Feb. 23 New York Magazine interview discussing crypto, Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler claimed “everything
The International Monetary Fund would prefer to differentiate and regulate crypto assets rather than enforce an outright ban, though the nuclear option will remain on the table for now. Speaking on the sidelines of the G20 finance ministers meetings in Bengaluru, India, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva explained how the United Nations financial agency views
Alchemy Pay has obtained a license from the central bank of Indonesia to operate remittances and fund transfers in cooperation with local fintech firm Berkah Digital Pembayaran. Announcing the news on Feb. 27, Alchemy Pay noted that Bank Indonesia issued the licenses jointly to Alchemy Pay and Berkah Digital’s platform BDPay, enabling the firms to