The mayor of Cool Valley, Missouri said he was exploring giving more than $1 million in Bitcoin to the city’s 1,500 residents. In a Thursday interview with St. Louis news outlet KSDK, Mayor Jayson Stewart said he wanted to see “every single household in my city receive some level of Bitcoin.” Stewart said the funds
Regulation
Binance has been at the regulatory cross-hair of jurisdictions across the globe, amid claims of it operating unlicensed businesses. As remediation to the ongoing scrutiny, the crypto exchange has publicly announced new know your customer (KYC) requirements for all users on the platform. “Effective immediately, all new users are required to complete Intermediate Verification to
The Ontario Securities Commission claimed Aux Cayes FinTech Company Limited, a legal entity in the Republic of Seychelles that operates crypto exchange OKEx, has failed to comply with the province’s law governing securities. In an Aug. 18 notice, the Ontario Securities Commission, or OSC, alleged that Aux Cayes may have engaged in illegal activity and
The Bank of Thailand has published the results of a new study into how to manage the implications of issuing a retail central bank digital currency (CDBC) for the country’s financial sector. As distinct from a wholesale CBDC, which is limited to use by financial institutions and intermediaries, a retail CBDC is widely available for
Zachary Kelman, the general counsel for Cointelegraph, said that the political fight over the tax implications for crypto in the infrastructure bill is nothing new, as it’s likely about how lawmakers plan to pay for everything. In an interview with Cointelegraph’s Jackson DuMont, Kelman claimed that Senators pushing the crypto language in the infrastructure bill
Former United States Treasury Criminal Investigator Greg Monahan joined major cryptocurrency exchange Binance to oversee the company’s international Anti-Money Laundering (AML) efforts, the exchange announced on Aug. 18. Before replacing Karen Leong as the global money laundering reporting officer at Binance, Monahan worked for the U.S. Treasury for almost 20 years as a member of
Two members of the United States House of Representatives have petitioned the heads of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission to work with participants in the crypto space for transparency and regulatory clarity. In a Monday tweet, Representative Glenn Thompson said he had submitted a letter with Representative Patrick McHenry to
Regulators around the world continue to keep the pressure fresh on crypto businesses. Spain’s National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) is the latest to issue a warning on several crypto- and financial market-related businesses for unregistered services. According to the official document, CNMV has issued warnings on 11 entities on Aug. 16 for not being registered
Crypto criminals are getting more adaptive and smarter than ever before. But how can industry service providers keep up with them? If I say that the crypto industry is highly targeted by cybercriminals and, in particular, organized criminals, I’m sure that no one who has spent a few months within the space would be surprised.
As the United States continues to weigh out the best ways to include crypto businesses through an infrastructure bill, the state of Wyoming has taken proactive measures to attract Bitcoin (BTC) miners and other crypto businesses to its local jurisdiction. Wyoming’s crypto-friendly notion comes into light as the state has passed more than 24 bills
The United States Treasury Department is reportedly seeking to clarify the definition of brokers in the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed by the Senate last week, offering cautious reassurance that the new legislation won’t impact innovation and growth in the blockchain industry. As reported by Bloomberg, the Treasury Department is preparing guidance on what types of
Due to their anonymity or pseudonymity, digital assets are perceived as entailing the risks of money laundering and financing terrorism. In October 2018, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) adopted changes to its recommendations on financial activities involving digital assets, adding the definitions “virtual asset” (VA) and “virtual asset service provider” (VASP). Since then, the
Binance has halted Korean won (KRW) trading pairs as part of a raft of changes to its operations in South Korea. In a notice issued on Friday, the crypto exchange giant announced the discontinuation of KRW trading pairs as well as KRW payment options on its service. Other features discontinued include Korean language support on
Artificial intelligence research lab Fetch.ai has been granted a request to have major cryptocurrency exchange Binance identify individuals behind a $2.6 million hack. According to a Friday Reuters report, the Royal Courts of Justice in London has ordered Binance to identify the hackers and seize the stolen assets. Fetch.ai reportedly claimed that hackers stole $2.6
United States Senators have cast their votes, and the contentious HR 3684 infrastructure bill cleared in the upper Congress chamber. Now, the gigantic document of over 2,700 pages and amounting to almost $1 trillion is heading to the House of Representatives, including the provisions expanding the definition of a cryptocurrency broker, designed to beef up
A Californian congresswoman has written to Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressing concerns about the controversial new mandate for crypto tax reporting. Anna Eshoo, who represents California’s 18th Congressional District, penned a letter to the Democratic party speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, on Aug. 12. In it, she urged Pelosi to amend
The Iranian National Tax Administration (INTA) is pushing to establish a legal framework for the taxation of crypto trading platforms operating in the country, according to a new proposal by the country’s tax authority. Two months after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s call for a legal framework for crypto trading, INTA reportedly detailed the necessity of
Alternative financial services firm, Valkyrie Digital Assets, has become the latest company to file for a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) offering indirect exposure to BTC via cash-settled futures contracts. According to a draft prospectus dated August 11, the Bitcoin futures contracts will be purchased via a Cayman Island-based subsidiary wholly owned by the fund via
India’s regulatory uncertainties have not affected the investor’s sentiment towards crypto as the latest data from crypto exchanges suggests a rising influx of users. Binance-owned Indian crypto exchange WazirX reported a 2,648% growth to date in user signups from smaller cities across India, also known as tier-II and tier-III cities, that can host up to
Asset manager VanEck is filing for a Bitcoin Strategy exchange-traded fund after it unsuccessfully attempted to launch a similar fund four years ago. According to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC records, VanEck filed a prospectus for a Bitcoin Strategy exchange-traded fund, or ETF, on Aug. 9. Unlike its Bitcoin (BTC) or Ether (ETH)