Crypto Regulations
South Korea
Blockchain Promotion Act proposed by South Korean Legislator
Democratic Party National Assembly representative Sangmin Lee proposed the Blockchain Promotion and Fostering Act to support the growth of the domestic blockchain industry. The announcement came at the legislature’s policy seminar today in Seoul.
The goal of the proposed Act is to stimulate growth and maturity in the industry by creating a research base and training standards. To that end, the proposal underlies the ongoing responsibility of top industry actors to revitalize existing services and to improve the safety and reliability of all related markets. Lawmakers argued that programs launched under the Act’s provisions would boost South Korea’s competitiveness in a world that is becoming increasingly active in technological development related to the 4th industrial revolution, reported a crypto news website.
US
US State Bank Regulators Agree to Single Set of Rules for Fintech, Crypto Firm Licensing
According to the Reuters report, the CSBS will unveil the new plans today after 48 state regulators had agreed to introduce a single set of supervisory rules. Until now, payment services and cryptocurrency companies had to comply with dozens of individual state regulations.
The new simplified format will apply to 78 such firms. A CSBS spokesman told Reuters that they move over $1 trillion annually combined. The implementation of the joint group of state regulations will facilitate operations across multiple states.
CSBS’s CEO and President John Ryan believes that the new initiative will provide further opportunities for businesses operating in the US to enhance their services. At the same time, it will work just as safely as the old regime. He added that the “states aren’t giving up authority. They are realizing efficiencies by sharing information.”
EU
The European Union Will Regulate Cryptocurrencies From 2024
According to reports, two new EU documents propose a four-year period to create a bill to regulate crypto assets and integrate them into the EU’s payment infrastructure. The structure under development will include both the integration of cryptocurrency payments and risk management.
Last week, finance ministers from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain called on the European Commission to include strict rules in the upcoming cryptocurrency bill, especially for global digital tokens like Facebook’s Libra. In a joint statement, the countries said stablecoins should not be allowed to operate in EU countries until legal, regulatory and supervisory issues are resolved.
LA
Venezuela Passes Law Legalizing Crypto Mining, Forces Miners to Join National Mining Pool
Reports say Venezuela has now legalized bitcoin mining following the decree recently issued by the National Superintendency of Crypto Assets and Related Activities (Sunacrip). As part of the new regulations, all entities and individuals interested in legally mining bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies must now apply for a license from the agency.
Other Countries
SEC proposes rules regulating Blockchain and Crypto investments
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has proposed a new set of rules that will regulate Crypto-token or Crypto-coin investments when the character of the investments qualifies as securities transactions. The position of the Commission is that virtual crypto assets are securities unless proven otherwise. Thus, the burden of proving that the crypto assets proposed to be offered are not securities, and therefore not under the jurisdiction of the SEC, is placed on the issuer or sponsor of the said assets.
Issuers or sponsors are expected to satisfy the burden of proving that the virtual assets do not constitute securities, by making an initial assessment filing, reported a crypto news site.
Other News
Binance is sued by Japanese crypto exchange Fisco for allegedly facilitating the laundering of $9 million
According to reports, Binance has been sued in a U.S. court by Japanese crypto exchange Fisco. Fisco alleges that Binance facilitated the laundering of more than $9 million of stolen bitcoin via the Zaif hack in 2018.
Japanese telco Rakuten says collaboration with Jio on 5G possible; wants India to develop telecom supply chain
Japanese telecom operator Rakuten Mobile said that there could be a possibility of technical collaboration with Reliance Jio for the development of network technologies in the 5G domain. The telecom operator also wants to work with Indian telecom and IT service providers to develop a complete supply chain for Rakuten Communications Platform (RCP), which it wants to offer to global telecom operators, including Indian telecom operators, reported a local Indian news source.
FATF hints at Binance as example of an exchange avoiding regulation
A new report by the Financial Action Task Force, or FATF, details a series of red flags that can help identify illicit activity involving cryptocurrencies. Among them are a general set of guidelines involving exchanges in jurisdictions with weaker regulations, where Binance is seemingly singled out for often moving to avoid stronger regulatory oversight.
The report, published on Sept. 14, lists a variety of red flags for spotting money laundering or terrorism financing, grouped by categories. Most red flags cited are commonly seen in traditional finance as well: young or old people suddenly transacting for huge sums of value, or transfers split into many chunks just below the reporting threshold, for example.
Privacy coins ‘pose less risk of money laundering than other coins’
According to reports, privacy coins including Monero, Dash, Grin, and Zcash pose less of a risk of money laundering than other cryptocurrencies according to a report by a global law firm.
According to a new white paper released by U.S. international law firm Perkins Coie, anti-money laundering (AML) measures taken by regulatory bodies worldwide have been sufficient to address any issues caused by privacy coins, and additional oversight may not be necessary.
Central bank: Cryptocurrencies are not accepted in Vietnam
According to reports, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has not accepted cryptocurrencies as a legal currency and a legal means of payment, said Nghiem Thanh Son, Deputy Director of the SBV’s Payment Department.
In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) on September 22, Son pointed to the fact that many businesses have mobilised investment in cryptocurrencies over the past time.
Korea’s ‘blockchain city’ is missing some links
Sixty-two percent of the firms in South Korea’s blockchain sandbox city of Busan do not know anything about the technology, according to a surprising report from the Busan Research Institute.
The South Korean federal government has considered Busan a “regulation-free” zone for blockchain development since last year. The city has launched various projects in the blockchain space including plans for a blockchain-based virtual power plant, and even its own municipal cryptocurrency, reported a crypto news site.
Ripple officially confirms: India’s largest bank joins RippleNet
Ripple‘s Managing Director of MENA, Navin Gupta, has now officially confirmed at this year’s Swell MENA conference that India’s largest bank, HDFC Bank Limited, has joined RippleNet.
As of June 2019, HDFC Bank Limited had over 100,000 employees and offers a wide range of financial products and services to over 43 million customers. HDFC Bank is the largest private sector lender in India by assets and the largest bank in India by market capitalization, reported a crypto news site.
Korean Exchanges in Limbo over Customer Social Security Nos Conundrum
Confusion reigns as to whether South Korean crypto exchanges can – or should – collect their customers’ social security numbers under new Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) compliance measures that come into force in a matter of months.
According to a crypto news website, exchanges are still uncertain of their legal obligations on this front, despite the fact that many of them have already built up their compliance infrastructure in preparation for policing from financial regulators.
China’s BSN to ‘Localize’ 24 Public Blockchains by Making Them Permissioned
China’s state-sanctioned blockchain infrastructure project is finally bringing public chains to its Chinese users – but with a significant twist.
According to reports, BSN’s latest move came one month after the network integrated six major public chains into the global version of its network. This was so that developers outside China could use a standardized development environment to build and run decentralized applications on these public chains. Unlike in the localized version, public decentralized chains are allowed in the global version of BSN.
China Blacklists Crypto OTC Trading Desks With A Five-Year Banking Ban As Punishment For Illegal Acts
Bitcoin over-the-counter (OTC) traders could be facing up to a five-year ban on their banking accounts in China, local reports state. The central bank, People’s Bank of China (PBoC), is heavily cracking down on money laundering activities and is blacklisting several OTC trading desks dealing in cryptocurrencies.
Recently, the Chinese central bank had enhanced its efforts in cracking down money laundering activities hence the latest move. In a bid to stop the illicit and illegal trades, the PBoC is taking a step affront to combat cryptocurrencies being used to launder funds by setting some of the OTC traders under its “disciplinary list.”
People’s Bank of China reveals Digital Yuan as mandatory, to be treated like cash
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) revealed that the new digital yuan will be mandatory to deal with and that it will be regulated like cash. Sharing his views on Financial News China in a new opinion article, a senior executive revealed that the digital asset will be treated just as ordinary traditional assets and stores of value.
Fan Yifei, deputy governor at the PBOC, stated the necessary regulations required for the bank to operate with the digital yuan. The deputy governor revealed that the digital currency will primarily exist as an M0 type of currency. It is otherwise popularly known as ‘narrow money’, reported a crypto news site.
Apple Censors Some Cryptocurrency and Defi Features of Coinbase App
According to reports, Apple Inc. has censored some cryptocurrency features of the Coinbase app. Specifically, Apple has blocked Coinbase from adding to its iOS app the ability to earn money using cryptocurrency and access to decentralized finance (Defi) apps.
Crypto exchange Gemini receives an electronic money license from the U.K. financial regulator.
According to the Bloomberg report, cryptocurrency exchange Gemini Trust Company LLC is expanding into the U.K. after being granted an electronic money license from the Financial Conduct Authority. The New York-based firm was founded by famous twins, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, who, after claiming Mark Zuckerberg took their idea for a social-networking website to start Facebook Inc., moved on to become entrepreneurs in the crypto industry. Gemini will now let U.K. consumers buy products with the leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin using regular debit cards as a funding source.
Austrian Regulator Exposes Another Unauthorised FX Broker
Austrian financial supervisory authority (FMA) today issued another public warning, this time against the unauthorized activities of Krisimark Ltd, an FX broker that claims to be based in Bulgaria and has been offering financial products in the country without authorization, reported a crypto news site.
Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies can Flourish in Balkan Region
According to reports, the efforts being put to effectively regulate the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry could see the Balkans leap big. The region only needs an effective regulatory framework on the disruptive technology if it is to boom. The Balkan region is ordinarily characterized as comprising around 6 countries including North Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia.
Even though the region is still dominated by cash a traditional means of making transitions, a massive increase in the use of online payments systems has been registered especially during this period of the Covid-19 pandemic – the figure of online payments is rising.
5 EU finance ministers raise concerns re stablecoin threats
On 14 September 2020, a joint statement on stablecoins was released by the ministers of finance for Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands. The announcement comes ahead of the EU’s Digital Finance Strategy to be released later this month. It’s expected to cover crypto assets and stablecoins used for payments, following the consultation period, which started last December.
In response to the statement, European Commission EVP Valdis Dombrovskis noted the concerns of the ministers. “Rest assured that our legislative proposals will address those concerns comprehensively,” said Dombrovskis. But he continued: “Crypto assets provide many opportunities, and we want to regulate innovation in, not out”, reported a crypto news site.
German Finance Minister Makes it Clear that Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain are Important for Economic Recovery
The cryptocurrency market has come a long way since 2010 when Bitcoin first entered the mainstream financial ecosystem. Since then the world of virtual assets has made progress across multiple sectors while also garnering its fair share of critics and detractors. Germany has taken the next step in cryptocurrency adoption with German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz assuring the country that crypto reforms and regulations will be sped up as soon as possible. The minister’s statements come at a time when the country was laying down plans to revive the dwindling economy, reported a crypto news outlet.
