Regulation

A group of high-level U.S. government attorneys has oulined their priorities for the enforcement and prosecution of individuals and companies that have committed crypto-related crimes. Enforcement officials from the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) spoke about the direction their agencies will take at a

Despite Russian officials’ increased interest in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Russia’s internet ombudsman expressed confidence that local crypto regulations will remain largely prohibitive. Dmitry Marinichev, Russia’s ombudsman for the protection of entrepreneurs’ rights under Russian President Vladimir Putin, discussed Russia’s approach to cryptocurrency regulations at a panel of a major local industry event, Blockchain Life 2021,

Acting chairperson of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, Rostin Behnam has likened the government agency’s enforcement of the digital asset space to a beat cop on duty. At an Oct. 27 hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry to assume his position on a permanent basis, Behnam said to

The United States territory of Puerto Rico is seeing a resurgence of interest among crypto investors attracted by the fact it doesn’t charge federal income tax and eligible investors can pay zero taxes on their crypto gains. Under local law Act 22, those who live in Puerto Rico for at least half of the year

Jelena McWilliams, the chairperson of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, has said the agency is working with other regulators in the United States to explore “under what circumstances banks can engage in activities involving crypto assets.” In a speech at the Money20/20 fintech conference on Oct. 25, McWilliams said the FDIC, in coordination

The central bank of Spain is introducing new registration guidelines for local virtual currency service providers, or VASPs, including banking institutions. The Bank of Spain has issued instructions on VASP registration for Anti-Money Laundering, or AML, purposes, requiring institutions to submit their registration requests through an electronic registry, Cointelegraph en Español reported Oct. 25. Issuing

British cryptocurrency services provider Crypterium is the latest crypto firm to secure registration from the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Crypterium officially announced on Oct. 25 that it has recently been registered by the FCA to provide cryptocurrency services to local citizens and companies, becoming one of few companies to have passed the registration process.

Eight years in the making, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) silent approval of a Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) last week elicited a wave of exuberance in the crypto space and sent the price of the key digital currency to a new all-time high.  Despite some analysts and industry participants having reservations

The biggest regulatory story of the week, if not the year, has been the United States Security and Exchange Commission’s lack of opposition to the launch of the first-ever Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds, which took eight long years to materialize. While the first ETFs are tracking CME-traded Bitcoin futures rather than the asset’s spot price, the

New York-based decentralized prediction market Polymarket has come under investigations from the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). According to an Oct. 23 report from Bloomberg citing anonymous sources, the CFTC is investigating whether Polymarket is allowing its customers to trade binary options and swaps that should be registered with the financial regulator. The

In her monthly Expert Take column, Selva Ozelli, an international tax attorney and CPA, covers the intersection between emerging technologies and sustainability, and provides the latest developments around taxes, AML/CFT regulations and legal issues affecting crypto and blockchain. Lately, news headlines are focused on regulators’ concerns over the lack of investor protections in the cryptocurrency

On the opening day of Messari Mainnet 2021, New York City’s long-awaited first crypto conference since the start of COVID-19, reports came blazing in via a viral tweet that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission had served a subpoena to an event panelist at the top of an escalator in broad daylight. While it’s

China’s National Development and Reform Commission is seeking public opinion on the inclusion of crypto mining in its list of “phased-out” industries. The call for public comments by the country’s macroeconomic planning agency was contained in a release issued on Thursday. Back on Sept. 24, the agency added virtual currency mining to its list of

Top-down governmental responses to innovation have always been questioned by entrepreneurs. Right now in crypto land as institutional investment flows steadily in and decentralized finance (DeFi) use cases and products have continued to flourish over the past 18 months, many crypto companies are begging for further regulatory clarity. The original Australian Senate Select Committee on

But others, like Arca CEO Rayne Steinberg, had “mixed feelings” about the events. While pleased that a much-awaited crypto investment vehicle finally received regulatory approval — ending eight years of futility on the part of U.S. fund issuers — he had some misgivings about the product that finally met the approval of the SEC, specifically

Valkyrie’s Bitcoin (BTC) futures-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) is poised to follow the launch of ProShares’ Bitcoin Strategy ETF on Friday. Valkyrie Bitcoin Strategy ETF is finally effective and is set to start trading on Nasdaq under the ticker BTF on Friday, Valkyrie confirmed to Cointelegraph on Thursday. The launch comes after the United States Securities