MAS Raises Focus on Fund Liquidity Risk Practices. MAS wants funds to increase the frequency of liquidity risk monitoring and to extend reporting of significant redemptions to non-retail funds.
CBIRC Finalises Rules on the Sale of Wealth Management Products. The rules take effect from 27 June, with a new six-month transition period before full compliance is required.
APRA Invites Tenders to Help Model Physical Climate Risk. APRA is seeking physical climate risk modelling capabilities to support the delivery of climate scenario analysis data to banks participating in the CVA project.
Japan to Require Disclosure of User Data Held Overseas. Companies will reportedly also have to disclose how data management rules in foreign countries differ from those in Japan.
HK Bankers Threatened With Jail Under National Security Law. Letters sent to HSBC and Citibank threaten up to seven years’ jail for any dealings with Hong Kong accounts belonging to media tycoon Jimmy Lai.
FSC Korea Provides No-Action Relief on Consumer Protection Law. Action will not be taken against violations of regulations introduced or strengthened by the new Financial Consumer Protection Act until 24 September.
CBIRC Directs Banks to Stop Selling Commodities Futures – Report. The CBIRC has asked banks to completely unwind their books for commodities-linked products and stop selling them to individual investors.
ASIC Files Criminal Charges Against Members Equity Bank. ME bank made “false or misleading” representations in home loan customer communications and failed to give timely notice of changes to the loan terms.
CSRC Chongqing Bureau Director Removed for Corruption. The CCDI and CSRC said corruption and bribery ran throughout Mao Bihua’s career. The case has been referred to prosecutors.
ASIC Files Federal Court Suit Against AMP Companies. ASIC has taken court action against AMP for charging deceased customers insurance premiums and advice fees. AMP has already remediated the impacted customers.
Atomic swaps between monero (XMR) and bitcoin (BTC) went live on mainnet. “With atomic swaps, online users trade cryptocurrencies without needing to trust each other or anyone else. Monero atomic swaps are made possible by new technologies and concepts and are being implemented by multiple teams, including a community funded software project called Farcaster and an algorithmically similar effort by the COMIT team,” according to Monero Outreach.
Riksbank said it will work with commercial lender Handelsbanken to test how the country’s proposed digital currency – the e-krona – could handle payments in the real world.
A filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows that WisdomTree has joined the ranks of those looking to launch an Ethereum ETF. The company is already waiting for the approval of a Bitcoin ETF. Meanwhile, the SEC is now officially reviewing two applications for a Bitcoin ETF, submitted by Fidelity Investments and SkyBridge Capital.
On 1 June, VanEck will list its crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) on the regulated segments of the Euronext stock exchanges in Amsterdam and Paris.
meme.com has raised USD 5m in a funding round led by Outlier Ventures, Digital Finance Group, Blockhype, and Spark Digital Capital.
A suspected Bitcoin mining operation illegally stealing electricity has been found by police who were searching for a cannabis farm, BBC reported.
DocuSign has entered into a definitive purchasing agreement of digital contracting platform Clause.
IOHK announced the successful launch of the first testnet – Alonzo Blue – in the Alonzo upgrade rollout.
Haruhiko Kuroda said that Bitcoin is “barely used as a form of settlement” and is mostly speculative trading with extremely high volatility.
Sheetz said it will enable crypto payments via Flexa.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will be asking around 300,000 crypto investors to report their gains and losses in their 2021 tax return, as well as prompting around 100,000 taxpayers to review their previously lodged returns.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is looking into regulating cryptocurrency trading in the country, its Governor Godwin Emefiele said. “We are committed in the CBN, and I can assure everybody that digital currency will come to life even in Nigeria,” the Governor was quoted as saying.
Per a report from Segye Ilbo, the South Korea crypto impasse has ended with the regulatory Financial Services Commission set to police crypto firms, the Ministry of Science and ICT charged with promoting the blockchain sector and bolstering security, and the police force set to focus on crypto-related crime prevention. The Ministry of Finance, the Fair Trade Commission, the tax agency, and the Korea Customs Service will also be given minor regulatory roles.
SeSocio said that it aims to reach up to 145,000 monthly active users by the end of 2021.
The crypto-non fungible token (NFT)-art craze could be set to welcome another famous name – with a work by the Nam June Paik to be auctioned as an NFT.
The Dubai Media Office warned that the emirate does not have its own official cryptocurrency as a scam with that claim seems to be circulating. “The website promoting the coin is an elaborate phishing campaign that is designed to steal personal information from its visitors,” the office added.
LIBOR Transition in Cash Markets Remains Slow: ASIC. Only 14 percent of post-cessation date loans have robust fallbacks in place, said ASIC’s Nathan Bourne at a Bloomberg-ICMA webinar.
FIA Seeks Additional Clarity on China’s “Historic” Futures Law. FIA is requesting additional clarity on settlement finality and proposing that the protections in the new futures law be further expanded.
China Watchdog Exposes Corrupt Former Regulators. Regulators inspected Baoshang Bank on 50 occasions and deliberately avoided parts of the business that had significant potential risks.
FSC Korea to Promote Greater Use of Analytics in Financial Sector. The FSC will introduce new measures later this year to increase the use of anonymised data that can be aggregated to perform data analytics.
AFP, AUSTRAC Probe Payments via Adult Content Site – Report. Banks and regulators are unable to establish who receives the payments via UK-based platform OnlyFans, which acts as an intermediary for content makers.
Taiwan FSC Fines HK Company for Faulty Beneficiary Disclosure. HK-based Capital Target Ltd was unable to verify the source of funds used to buy a 24% stake in Korean conglomerate Jih Sun Financial Holding in 2009.
SFC Fines Ewarton Securities Over Staff Trading Controls. A lack of internal controls resulted in Ewarton’s failure to detect and prevent unauthorised or improper activities by a licensed representative.
Taiwan to Enable Interoperability Between E-payment Providers. Amendments due to take effect from 1 July will enable users of e-payment services and stored-value facilities to transfer money across platforms.
Korean Crypto Exchanges Face “Existential Crisis” – Report. Crypto exchanges have until 24 September to partner with banks on real-name accounts as a requirement for a business licence from the FSC.
Inner Mongolia Government Threatens Punishment for Crypto Mining. A new notice warns telecoms, big data centres and cloud computing companies of severe punishment if they engage in or facilitate crypto mining activities.
Fold announced a USD 13m series A round to fuel its growth.
Talos said it has completed a USD 40m Series A investment round.
QuickNode raised USD 5.3m in a round led by Seven Seven Six, founded by Reddit Co-founder and Chairman Alexis Ohanian, with participation from SoftBank’s Opportunity Fund, Arrington XRP Capital, Crossbeam.vc, and Anthony Pompliano, among others.
Balancer Labs (BAL) has raised USD 24.25m in a funding round that included investors like Alameda Capital and Pantera Capital.
Pintu said it has raised USD 6m in a Series A funding round led by investors Pantera Capital, Intudo Ventures and Coinbase Ventures.
US President Joe Biden will seek USD 6trn in US federal spending for the 2022 fiscal year, rising to USD 8.2trn by 2031, the New York Times reported.
Coinbase said it is launching a Fact Check section of their blog, which will deal with “misinformation and mischaracterizations” about either Coinbase or crypto. Coinbase also said they’re working on tailoring their “load tests to better simulate real world situations, such as sudden traffic spikes.”
AllianceBlock has announced the launch of its Liquidity Mining as a Service (LMaaS) product, “breaking down barriers to entry for new DeFi projects and increasing the flow of capital across the sector,” said the emailed press release.
Securitize said it has launched Securitize Capital, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary, that will serve as an alternative investment manager of digital asset funds to provide investors exposure to cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance (DeFi) in the form of digital asset securities.
A bipartisan bill called the 21st Century Dollar Act was introduced, asking the US Treasury Department to evaluate the dollar’s role in the global economy, but also consider details around central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
Nvidia still relies on PC gamers more than cryptocurrency miners for their revenue, the company’s CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC. Still, their crypto-specific line of processors that launched in February generated USD 155m in sales in the first fiscal quarter of the year—but this line is “a bone thrown to cryptocurrency obsessives to protect gamers,” the article said.
ICMA, Bloomberg Publish APAC Guide on Tough Legacy Bonds. Up to 80% of tough legacy bonds in APAC have inadequate fallbacks in place, or no fallbacks at all, ICMA and Bloomberg say in a new report.
IIF, ISDA Release Study on Financial Sector Support During Pandemic. The report recognises the actions of central banks, financial authorities and regulatory agencies amid the pandemic, saying they were critical in stabilising markets.
NGFS Publishes Preliminary Findings on Climate-related Data Gaps. The availability of reliable climate-related data requires swift progress on disclosures, global taxonomy, and transparent and quality-assured metrics, the NGFS says.
Regulators Order Tencent to Establish Financial Holding Company. Like Ant Group, Tencent will have to submit a reorganisation plan to regulators specifying which businesses the new financial holding company will absorb.
MAS Partners with Mojaloop Foundation on Financial Inclusion. The partnership will bring together MAS’ policy development perspectives and Mojaloop’s digital payments capability to advance financial inclusion.
RBNZ Takes Court Action Against TSB Bank for AML Failures. The court action and pecuniary penalties sought are a result of TSB Bank not responding sufficiently to the RBNZ’s initial formal warning in 2016.
Korea FSS Orders IBK to Compensate Investors Over Mis-sold Funds. The FSS said IBK failed to adequately inform customers of potential high risks and lacked internal controls to monitor the selling process.
S. Korea to Expand Microfinance Support Fund. Legislative revisions will expand the pool of microfinance funds available by requiring banks and other FIs to make mandatory contributions.
WhatsApp Files Lawsuit Against India Over Traceability Rules. The new laws give the Indian government greater power to monitor online activity and require data to be stored in a “traceable” database.
Malaysia Launches Islamic Fintech Accelerator Programme. The FIKRA Islamic Fintech Accelerator Programme seeks to promote an Islamic fintech innovation ecosystem in Malaysia’s capital market.
“Much of the cryptocurrency issued today will not survive, but we believe cryptocurrency in one form or another might be here to stay. To be clear, we have never bought any cryptocurrency, but we are studying it,” Carl Icahn told Bloomberg.
Larry Fink said they are studying cryptocurrencies like bitcoin (BTC) to determine whether the asset class could offer countercyclical benefits.
Ledn has completed USD 30m Series A financing round led by Kingsway Capital.
The heads of some major US banks, such as Citigroup, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo will discuss cryptoassets during a hearing at the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban affairs today.
The Stellar Development Foundation said it has invested USD 15m into Mexico-based blockchain and bank-connected digital wallet and peer-to-peer exchange platform AirTM.
Mark Cuban has added Ethereum (ETH) scaling and infrastructure development platform Polygon to his list of backed companies on his website.
Apple is looking for a business development manager with at least 5 years “experience working in or with alternative payment providers, such as digital wallets, BNPL, Fast Payments, cryptocurrency and etc.”
The Ontario Securities Commission charged crypto exchange Poloniex with breaching its securities regulations, as the exchange did not respond to the commission’s request to start discussions about how to comply with the rules.
The British Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said has deemed an ad by crypto platform Luno Money “misleading” and “irresponsible,” warning that it “must not appear again in the form complained about.”
The deputy head of one of South Korea’s most powerful financial regulators, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) is set to quit his job to take up a role at the market-leading crypto exchange Upbit.
Investors in South Korea are set to sue the crypto exchange Bitsonic over withdrawals-related issues.
Ripple said it has partnered with BankDhofar to connect it to Indian private sector bank IndusInd Bank in order to drive real-time payments into India.
The religious leaders of the Russian republic of Ingushetia have called on Muslims to “stop using cryptoassets.”
Indonesia’s central bank, Bank Indonesia (BI), is looking to launch its own central bank digital currency (CBDC).
News agency Associated Press is auctioning off a collection of 10 non-fungible tokens (NFTs) relating to its almost two-century-old photojournalism in a partnership with blockchain knowledge company Everipedia.
Enjin (ENJ) has airdropped 50,000 NFTs as part of its “MyFirstNFT” marketing campaign to a randomized set of users who interacted with their ads on social media.
IAIS Offers Supervisory Guidance on Climate Risk in Insurance Sector. New paper sets out recommendations to promote a globally consistent approach to the supervision of climate-related risks in the insurance sector.
FSC Korea Advances Initiatives to Respond to Climate Risk. The FSC has officially declared support for the TCFD, applied for NGFS membership, and launched a new consultative body with state-backed FIs on green finance.
Japan FSA Releases Guidelines on Climate Transition Finance. The guidelines incorporate the recommendations on disclosures from the ICMA Climate Transition Finance Handbook, which was published in December.
IOSCO Explores Conduct Risks in Leveraged Loan, CLO Markets. IOSCO is looking to understand potential conflicts of interest and misaligned incentives that may exist among participants in the leverage loan and CLO markets.
EU Ramps Up Regulatory Scrutiny Over Foreign Bank Branches. New rules will require foreign banks operating in the EU to consolidate their operations under an “intermediate parent undertaking”.
China CIPS Expands to Include Corporate Participants. The first batch of non-banks have joined CIPS. Officials say the network covers nearly 200 countries and over 3400 banks.
Hong Kong Considers Replacing State Street as TraHK Manager. Officials reportedly commissioned an independent study to review State Street’s role in managing Hong Kong’s Tracker Fund.
China: Policymakers Warn Against Commodity Market Speculation. Regulators will strengthen supervision of commodity futures and the spot market with a “zero tolerance” for illegal activities.
Bank of Korea Seeks Technology Partner to Test CBDC. The testing and simulation exercise will be conducted in two phases, the first involving the creation, issuance and redemption of a digital won.
CBIRC Approves Goldman Sachs Wealth Management JV. Preliminary approval will allow Goldman Sachs Asset Management to own a 51 percent stake in the joint venture with ICBC Wealth Management.
1confirmation said it closed its new third venture fund worth USD 125m and dubbed 1confirmation fund III.
Chia Network has raised USD 61m from investors including Richmond Global Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz.
Solidus Labs said they have raised USD 20m in a Series A funding round led by venture capitalist Evolution Equity Partners.
Todd Morley is backing a new blockchain tower in midtown Manhattan.
The central South African Reserve Bank, said it is looking into the feasibility of creating their own central bank digital currency (CBDC).
Professor George Church will be partnering with artist, producer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, Akon and his NFT platform, AkoinNFT, to auction off Professor George Church’s full genome as the world’s first genomic NFT.
Diginex Limited reached a record high trading volume on May 20th, exceeding USD 200m in both spot and derivatives trading on its EQUOS exchange.
Currency.com appointed Steve Gregory as its New York-based chief executive officer to help grow the business in the US and Canada.
Bison Trails is collaborating with early-stage venture firm Volt Capital to enable secure staking on the Celo Network, a mobile-first proof-of-stake blockchain network.
G7 Close to Deal on Global Minimum Corporate Tax Rate. A US Treasury’s proposal to accept a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15% has reportedly been met with enthusiasm in Europe.
HKMA Urges Banks to Use iAM Smart in Remote Onboarding. The HKMA clarifies that when iAM Smart is used for identity verification, record keeping requirements may be met by retaining data obtained via API.
US Treasury Paper Outlines Proposal for New Tax Reporting Regime. The paper proposes that transfers involving crypto-assets worth more than USD 10,000 be reported to the IRS under the new reporting regime.
CME Group Recommended as SOFR Term Rate Administrator. A forward-looking SOFR term rate is now in clear sight, said Tom Wipf, ARRC Chairman and Vice Chairman of Institutional Securities at Morgan Stanley.
Nomura, UBS, UniCredit Fined for Participating in Trading Cartel. During Europe’s sovereign debt crisis, the banks shared information about their EGB bidding and trading strategies in Bloomberg terminal chat rooms.
S. Korea Revises Law to Strengthen Market Integrity. The revisions will ease approval processes for financial investment businesses, including foreign firms, while also increasing penalties for stock manipulation.
China Releases Supplementary Rules for Carbon Rights Trading. The rules detail the role of the registration authority, allowing it to intervene if carbon prices see abnormal fluctuations or excessive volatility.
ESMA Recommends Lower Short Position Reporting Threshold. ESMA says a “substantial amount” of essential information became available to NCAs after the notification threshold was lowered to 0.1% last year.
Japan Post Bank Misplaces Customer Transaction Data. The missing records include information such as clients’ names and bank account numbers, which are supposed to be retained for 10 years.
Korea Brokers Join Emissions Trading Scheme as Market Makers. Participation by the brokerage firms as market makers will help reduce bid-ask spreads and keep Korea’s emissions trading market liquid.
Ray Dalio said during Coindesk’s Consensus event that he has “some bitcoin” and that he personally would rather have BTC than a bond. However, he warned that BTC might be at risk of its own success if big investors decide to sell bonds “in a bigger way” and buy BTC instead.
CoinShares said that its total comprehensive income for the first quarter 2021 was GBP 32m (USD 45m), or 334% more than in the first quarter of 2020.
BIT Mining Limited said it has entered into a binding investment term sheet with a Kazakhstan-based company to jointly invest in a cryptocurrency mining data center in Kazakhstan.
Marathon Digital Holdings said it has entered into a binding letter of intent with Compute North to host approximately 73,000 of Marathon’s previously purchased Bitcoin miners as part of a new 300MW data center located in Texas.
Iran is using Bitcoin mining to evade sanctions when it comes to selling energy reserves, blockchain analytics firm Elliptic said.
Blockstream said it has acquired Bitcoin hedge fund manager Adamant Capital.
Galaxy Digital Holdings said it has acquired Vision Hill Group, an investment consultant and asset manager in the digital asset sector.
Troika Media Group said it has acquired Redeeem, a fintech platform that “empowers businesses to digitize any asset and build their own blockchain-based payment solutions,” in a more than USD 12m deal.
In light of the growing role of digital private money in the broader migration to digital payments, the potential use of foreign central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in cross-border payments, and the importance of financial inclusion, the US Federal Reserve is stepping up its research and public engagement on a digital version of the US dollar.
South Korea’s central bank on Monday said it will choose a technology supplier to build a pilot platform for a digital currency.
Faryar Shirzad to join Coinbase as Chief Policy Officer.
Pavel Krasheninnikov has opened the door for limited crypto usage in settlements.
Crypto policy continues to divide the government and regulators in South Korea – and now a South Korean financial policy maker’s own auditory wing has stepped in, criticizing the regulatory Financial Services Comission (FSC) for its stance on crypto.
A report by JPMorgan’s derivatives strategist Josh Younger shows that despite Tether (USDT) has grown significantly, it still remains only a “modest segment of the commercial paper market.”
HSBC has no plans to launch a cryptoasset trading desk due to their volatility. “I view bitcoin as more of an asset class than a payments vehicle, with very difficult questions about how to value it on the balance sheet of clients because it is so volatile,” the bank’s CEO, Noel Quinn, was quoted as saying.
A collective civil lawsuit may be on the cards for an alleged USD 50m – USD 122m Spanish crypto pyramid scheme that is thought to have sucked in anywhere between 1,200 and 32,000 investors in the country.
The Office of the United States Attorney and the United States Secret Service are asking victims of the 2017 EtherDelta crypto hack, worth at least USD 1.4m, to come forward and provide information about their losses.
Hong Kong to Bar Retail Investors from Crypto Trading. Hong Kong’s FSTB has issued consultation conclusions on the new licensing regime for VASPs and a new registration regime for precious metals dealers.
Philippine AMLC to Penalise Firms for Incorrect STR Filings. AMLC Executive Director Mel Georgie Racela told Regulation Asia that incorrect STR filings identified in a recent review will result in supervisory action.
ISDA Calls for Uniform Approach to Risk Data Reporting. Regulators would have more confidence in the consistency and accuracy of the risk data being collected if they used an established industry standard in their reporting requirements.
FCA Consults on Use of New Powers to Facilitate LIBOR Transition. The consultation will help the FCA decide on what legacy use to permit for non-representative benchmarks and how it will prohibit new use of critical benchmarks that are ceasing.
Shanghai, Shenzhen Bourses Consult on New Bond Issuance Rules. Rules requiring issuers to have credit ratings are removed, investor rights protection mechanisms are enhanced, and obligations on intermediaries are strengthened.
CBIRC 2020 Penalties Show Emphasis on Personal Accountability. The CBIRC issued $350mn in fines against 3,178 banks and insurance firms in 2020. The number of individuals punished rose by about 30% from 2019.
SGX RegCo Extends Suspension of Issuer Watch-List. The extension is to enable issuers to focus on Covid-19 related business and economic challenges and on dealing with any resultant liquidity crunch.
Taiwan Listed Companies Told to Postpone Shareholder Meetings. A special regulation to combat Covid-19 will exempt Taiwan listed companies from requirements to hold shareholders’ meetings by end-June.
CBIRC Penalises Five Banks for Regulatory Violations. Huaxia Bank, China Bohai Bank, Bank of China, China Merchants Bank and Bank of East Asia’s China branch were fined a total $56.9mn.
Infrastructure Critical for Successful CBDC Development – Report. A new report analyses the four axes of consideration for the design features of all CBDCs, as proposed by the IMF, and the implications each choice has on infrastructure.
The US Treasury said the Biden administration’s proposal to strengthen tax compliance includes a requirement for transfers of at least USD 10,000 of crypto to be reported to the Internal Revenue Service.
The current crypto market volatility is of no concern to the US economy as a whole, two Federal Reserve policymakers claimed.
Wells Fargo & Co said its investment institute is planning to evaluate and onboard an actively managed cryptocurrency strategy for its wealthy clients.
Digital wallet Eco said that some of the world’s most prominent cultural icons participated in its recent fundraising of more than USD 26m — alongside a16z Crypto, Founders Fund, and more than one hundred others.
Figure Technologies said it is closing a USD 200m Series D funding round at a USD 3.2bn valuation.
Cryptocurrencies.AI said it has secured more than USD 8m in investment “in a move to overcome exchange fragmentation and poor user experience in crypto.”
Won Hee-ryong has become the first leading politician in the country to admit he made crypto investments.
Matrixport will use APIs by peer-to-peer payment infrastructure provider Circle to onboard fiat funds, automatically settled in the latter’s own stablecoin USDC.
A lawsuit was filed against Dapper Labs, Inc and their CEO in the state of New York, as the plaintiffs allege that their NBA Top Shot Moments are unregistered securities, per a report published by Forbes. However, neither the NBA nor the NBA Players Association were sued.
Tezos (XTZ) is the new official blockchain partner of Red Bull Racing Honda, and the partnership will see an exclusive NFT line launching on the Tezos blockchain.
Sir Kenny Dalglish, formerly of Liverpool FC and the Scottish National Team, and current Manchester City player Riyad Mahrez will be creating NFT memorabilia in partnership with NEM Group.
BIT Mining Limited said it has entered into a binding investment term sheet with Dory Creek, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bitdeer, to invest in a crypto mining data center in Texas.
The government of Kazakhstan has announced that crypto miners in the country will likely have to pay tax. The country’s senate is set to vote on a draft bill that, if passed, will see the measure passed into law before the year’s end, with promulgation expected on January 1, 2022.
The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is not asking people for BTC in order to release back to you some fictitious funds, an alert from the institution warned. The scam message claims that “IMF.UNITED NATIONS and WORLD BANK have made a new policy that any debt or payment belonging to an individual above USD 1M should be paid through a bitcoin wallet address.” The OCC stressed that they do not participate in holding funds for other entities in the first place.
CoolBitX has released CoolWallet Pro, a crypto wallet that features “increased coin support” and “expansive staking features,” according to an emailed press release. DeFi, dapp, and NFT in-app integration will be available for CoolWallet Pro users in the third quarter this year, they added.
Kraken has onboarded venture capital firm Tribe Capital’s Co-founder and Partner Arjun Sethi as the third board member of the exchange.
Hitachi and Sekisui House are set to begin piloting blockchain-powered rental and utilities contracts.
Jerome Powell announced that the US central bank will issue a research paper on a USD central bank digital currency (CBDC), along with asking for public opinion.
In a note published Thursday, Deutsche Bank’ Macro Strategist Marion Labouré said that “the value of bitcoin is entirely based on wishful thinking.” Bitcoin (BTC)’s value will continue to rise and fall depending on what people believe it is worth, which is a phenomenon the note said is called the ‘Tinkerbell effect’, Yahoo Finance reported.
Greenpeace is not accepting Bitcoin donations anymore citing the cryptocurrency’s high carbon footprint as the reason.
Teucrium Trading has applied for a Bitcoin-based ETF, a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows.
Elon Musk argued that the layer-2 payments network Lightning is “needed” for now. “Layer count depends on projected bandwidth & compute, both rising rapidly, which means single layer network can carry all human transactions in future imo,” he tweeted.
Two bitcoin ETFs run by Horizons ETFs Canada issued “market disruption” warnings during this week’s crypto turmoil, as s brief trading halt on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange posed a potential problem for two funds that track bitcoin futures.
Optimism, in collaboration with block explorer and analytics platform Etherscan, have announced optimistic.etherscan.io.
A British Member of Parliament, Tom Tugendhat, MP for Tonbridge and Malling, argued that we’re seeing the flippening from Bitcoin to Ethereum and that the Treasury needs to help create space for UK innovation and its legal system to “learn what’s needed in a new economy.”
BitMEX has decided to go carbon neutral, the company announced in a blog post.
Gary Gensler said that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), with the SEC itself, “should be ready to bring cases involving issues such as crypto, cyber and fintech” in an effort to protect investors of crypto assets in the same way that traditional investors are protected.
The Hong Kong government is moving to license virtual asset service providers (VASP) via a legislative proposal that has now moved past its consultation period.
Iran has reportedly enlisted the help of intelligence officials to track down illegal cryptocurrency mining farms.
Jane Hume said in a speech that cryptocurrencies will grow as an asset class, and the Australian government will not stand in the way of crypto traders.
Flux Protocol has raised USD 10.3m in its seed round led by investor Distributed Global, joined by Coinbase Ventures, CoinFund, Uncorrelated, Figment Capital, and many others.
European NeoBroker Trade Republic has raised USD 900m in a Series C investment round led by Sequoia, as well as TCV and Thrive Capital.
SFC to Investigate, Punish Misconduct in ‘Problematic’ IPOs. In a joint statement with the stock exchange, the SFC says it will not hesitate to take enforcement action against intermediaries for IPO-related misconduct.
HKEX Finalises Rule Changes to Enhance Market Quality. HKEX will increase the profit requirement to HKD 80 million in combined profits over the three years. Proposals to enhance its disciplinary powers and sanctions will also be adopted.
DBS, SGX, StanChart, Temasek to Launch Carbon Exchange. ‘Climate Impact X’ seeks to address a need for more high-quality carbon credits and promote active cross-border trading of such credits to drive global price transparency.
BNM Consults on Multi-rate Approach to LIBOR Transition. A new discussion paper proposes that the Malaysian ARR be based on overnight transactions in the interbank market, and that the ARR runs in parallel to KLIBOR.
Bursa Malaysia Set to Pilot Market Making in Stocks. Firms can register as stock market makers and carry out market making activities in eligible stocks, helping to improve liquidity and price efficiency of these stocks.
ICMA Publishes ‘Success Criteria’ for Sustainable Finance Taxonomies. In a new whitepaper, ICMA compares the main features and methodologies of official taxonomies and provides five success criteria for use in benchmarking.
CFA Institute Proposes Harmonised ESG Disclosures for Funds. An exposure draft from CFA Institute outlines a proposed disclosure framework for ESG-focused investment products.
CBDCs Present Central Banks with Risk-Benefit Trade-off: Fitch. The potential for funds to move quickly into CBDC accounts could cause credit strains in some banks and push up interest rates.
SET Amends Listing Rules to Introduce Market Cap Test. The listing rule changes will enable companies in target sectors to more easily access funding from Thailand’s capital market.
TPEX Launches Dedicated Sustainable Bond Market. The new market allows an integrated listing and trading system to streamline issuance of green, social and sustainability bonds.
Michael Burry has disclosed a short position worth USD 534m against electric car manufacturer Tesla (TSLA).
Copper said it raised USD 50m in a Series B funding round.
Valour Structured Products Inc., has announced the launch of its Cardano (ADA) exchange-traded product (ETP), while a Polkadot (DOT) ETP is expected to start trading later this month.
Gemini said that more than 250,000 people have joined the Gemini Credit Card waitlist for early access to their credit card that lets users “earn up to 3% back in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies on the dollars you spend.”
Coinbase has announced their intention to offer Convertible Senior Notes (CSNs) worth USD 1.25bn in a private offering to select investors.
Bybit said it will launch ethereum (ETH) futures contracts on May 20.
US Congressman Tom Emmer introduced the Safe Harbor for Taxpayers with Forked Assets Act, which, if approved, would prohibit penalties against taxpayers attempting to report certain gains or losses on “Forked Assets” until the US Internal Revenue Service issues sufficient guidance on how to do so.
Graystone Company said it has begun acquiring Bitcoin mining capacity for its Bitcoin Mining Operations.
Nvidia said they’re reducing the hash rate of newly manufactured GeForce RTX 3080, 3070, and 3060 Ti graphics cards so they’re less desirable to crypto miners.
Elliptic has found that the so-called DarkSide ransomware gang has extorted more than USD 90m worth of BTC in 75 payments from 47 victims, including Colonial Pipeline.
KIWIE 1001 is organizing an NFT showroom for digital artists to showcase their work in a gallery in Riga.
Neal Adams partnered with gaming company Vorto Gaming on an exclusive comic book and NFT collection.
Tether said it will launch USDT on Avalanche (AVAX), a smart contract platform.
Ledger said that Iqbal V. Gandham, former eToro Managing Director, joined the company as Vice President of Payments & Transactions.
Singapore Taskforce Issues Climate Disclosure Guide for FIs. GFIT also announced a framework for green trade finance and published a roadmap to scale green finance in the real estate, infrastructure, fund management and transition sectors.
China Renews Crackdown on Cryptocurrencies. Three state-backed associations representing internet firms, banks, and payments companies have barred their members from providing crypto-related services to customers.
Singapore Sustainability Reporting Sees Marked Improvement: SGX. In a joint review, SGX RegCo and NUS Business School found an overall increase in the depth and understanding of sustainability reporting.
Japanese FIs Still Have $24tr in LIBOR Exposures – Report. The December 2020 figure is down only slightly from the $27.5tr of contracts referencing LIBOR 18 months earlier at the end of June 2019.
US Postpones Investment Ban on ‘Chinese Military Companies’. The two-week delay is needed to craft a stronger policy to prohibit trades in companies connected to the Chinese military, including to evaluate the companies on the list.
APRA Mulls Changes to Super Fund Rules on Spending, Investing. APRA is considering rules that could limit super fund spending on advertising and memberships, as well as changes to the prudential standard on investment governance.
ASIC Fines Macquarie Securities A$126,000 Over Algorithm Failure. Macquarie Securities was meant to conduct a share buyback for a client via ordinary trading, but the trade went through ASX Centre Point, a dark market.
BSP Tests new RTGS System Ahead of June 2021 Go-Live. The BSP is testing the new peso RTGS system with banks and other participating institutions to determine readiness for go-live in June 2021.
China & HK Agree Cross-border Insolvency Framework. Hong Kong courts and Chinese courts in pilot cities will be able to recognise insolvency, bankruptcy and restructuring proceedings under each other’s laws.
HKMA Instructs Banks to Assess Need for Tertiary Data Backup. Banks are asked to critically assess the need to set up a secure tertiary data backup to guard against destructive cyber attacks.
Japan to Start Holiday Trading in Derivatives in Sep 2022. Osaka Exchange and Tokyo Commodity Exchange will begin holiday trading in index and commodity futures and options in September 2022.
JPX Establishes Working Group to Enhance Equity Market. The working group will discuss trading system resilience and functionality, a possible extension of trading hours, and the introduction of holiday trading.
Myanmar Banks Face Cash Crisis as CBM Withholds Reserves. Banks are reportedly being denied permission to withdraw excess reserves held at the central bank, making it difficult for them to replenish ATMs.
US, UK, Canada Announce Fresh Sanctions Against Myanmar. The latest sanctions actions cite attacks and human rights violations against the people of Myanmar, including the killing of children.
APRA Sets Launch Dates for New Data Collection Tool. The test environment will be available from 17 June and production environment from 13 September. ADIs have to maintain BEAR information in APRA Connect from September.
CSRC Approves China’s First Tradeable Infrastructure REITs. Five REITs will be traded in Shanghai, while another four will be traded in Shenzhen. The nine projects will raise an estimated CNY 30 billion.
APRA Asks Banks to Improve RNIV Reporting & Capitalisation. APRA says it has observed weaknesses in banks’ Risks-not-in-VaR frameworks and inconsistencies in the calculation of the capital add-ons applied.
Former Manager of Sun Life HK Charged for Money Laundering. The ICAC alleges that the former senior unit manager of Sun Life Hong Kong dealt with crime proceeds totalling over HKD 640,000.
Saxo Bank has launched a crypto offering enabling clients to trade bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), and litecoin (LTC) against EUR, USD, and JPY from a single margin account without the need to maintain a crypto wallet.
DeversiFi said it has raised USD 5m in a funding round led by alternative investment firm ParaFi.
GlobalBlock has announced the purchase of blockchain technology company Helix Applications, subject to regulatory approval, for a price of GBP 32m (USD 45m).
Michael Hsu will be taking a closer look at crypto-related guidance issued by his predecessor.
Brian Armstrong said he is lobbying US lawmakers in order to “establish relationships and help answer questions about crypto.”
Details have emerged about the South Korean main opposition party’s new crypto task force. The task force is the brainchild of the People Power Party, which is hoping to oust the ruling Democratic Party in next year’s general elections, and is set to make crypto policy a major part of its manifesto.
The Russian parliament, the State Duma, has voted in favor of a bill that will require candidates in elections to disclose their crypto earnings in the three years prior to their candidacy.
Riot Blockchain said it increased mining revenue by 881% to USD 23.2m in the first quarter of this year. It also made a “record net income” of USD 7.5m, compared to a USD 4.3m net loss in the first quarter of 2020.
Ripple has announced a partnership with the National Bank of Egypt, which will connect them to UAE-based financial service provider LuLu International Exchange to process cross-border payments between the UAE and Egypt.
Maple Finance has launched its inaugural lending pool of USD 17m, with nine borrowers that include the likes of Alameda Research, Framework Labs, Wintermute, and Amber Group, where each loan is capped at USD 2m. The initial institutional lenders included Blockchain.com and Coinshares, they said.
Spain’s Criptan crypto exchange has teamed up with Mastercard to issue a new crypto-powered card.
Coinbase is launching its own media operation.
BitGo has announced that Cassandra “Cassie” Lentchner has been appointed as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the company.
Bitwala has rebranded itself to Nuri, and launched a redesigned web and mobile app.
Is Asia Ready for the End of LIBOR? Li Renn Tsai compares progress in Asia’s main trading hubs, warning of a logjam of transition-related operational work that will pile up towards year-end.
Conduct Risk Management Shifts to ‘Predict and Prevent’ Approach. In its annual Compendium on culture and conduct risk supervision, Starling highlights a shift from ‘detect and correct’ to ‘predict and prevent’.
CSRC Launches Probe into Allegations of Market Manipulation. A fund manager has claimed that at least 18 stocks are being manipulated by the listed companies, private equity funds and publicly offered funds.
Tokyo Bourse Plans to Extend Trading Hours – Report. Longer trading hours are expected to increase participation from overseas investors, as well as local retail investors that trade after work.
HKEX Clears First SOFR-HONIA Cross Currency Swaps. OTC Clear announced last week that it was launching clearing services for cross-currency interest rates swaps and basis swaps referencing HONIA and SOFR.
China Regulators Facilitate Financing Arrangements for Huarong. The CBIRC has reportedly helped to facilitate the provision of liquidity support to Huarong until August through loans from state-owned banks.
SG Police Issue Cheating Charges in Nickel Trading Fraud Case. With the latest charges, Ng Yu Zhi now faces a total of 18 counts of cheating, fraudulent trading and forgery. He will return to court on 28 June.
RBI Relaxes Restrictions on the Use of Video-based KYC. Video-based KYC can be used for identification of individual customers, business owners, and authorised signatories and beneficial owners of legal entities.
China: Ex-Banking Regulator Admits to Taking Bribes. The former head of the CBRC’s Inner Mongolia branch is linked to Baoshang Bank, a local lender that was taken over by the state in 2019.
RBI Asks Banks to Cut Ties With Cryptocurrency Exchanges. The unofficial guidance comes as Indian lawmakers look to introduce a ban on cryptocurrencies and penalise anyone dealing in them.
Square announced its intention to offer, subject to market conditions and other factors, approximately USD 2bn aggregate principal amount of senior notes.
Galaxy Digital reported another consecutive record quarter, as net comprehensive income grew to USD 860m from USD 336m in the prior quarter, assets under management increased 58% in the quarter, and counterparty loan originations increased over 510%.
Bitcoin’s Taproot upgrade will not lock in in this epoch, but more pools have signaled their support for it – currently almost 65% of the needed 90%.
Widespread adoption of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) may be disruptive for financial systems if associated risks are not managed, Fitch Ratings said.
bEarn Fi confirmed that it was exploited to the tune of USD 11m.
Ransomware attackers have already taken in at least USD 81m worth of cryptocurrency from victims this year, Chainalysis said. In 2020, this number hit USD 406m.
The Banco Central de Cuba, the Cuban central bank, has warned civilians that the risk of crypto-themed pyramid schemes is increasing, with many seeking crypto-powered solutions to the country’s deepening economic crisis.
Bottlepay has now added GBP to their platform, according to an emailed statement. The service is expected to go live on Reddit, Discord, and Twitch in the next few weeks.
Sony Interactive Entertainment has patented its own eSports betting platform, which allows users to bet currency (including BTC) or digital items.
Delphi Digital said it has launched a new fund for non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
The Tor Project sold an NFT of their private cryptographic key used to create Tor’s first onion service Dusk, the company announced.
Bank of America (BofA) joined the network created by Paxos Trust Co. to settle stock trades in minutes rather than days by using blockchain.
Major South Korean crypto exchanges like Bithumb and Upbit are still being blighted by periodic server outages.
Argentina’s Buenbit exchange has opened a branch in Peru.
Prospects of Western–Japanese Coordination on Human Rights Sanctions. Japan will set itself apart as an active sanctioning partner in Asia and further boost the global effort to combat human rights violations, writes RUSI’s Sasha Erskine.
MAS to Expand Scope of Mandatory Reference Check Regime. MAS proposes to expand the scope of FIs and employees subject to the mandatory reference checking regime. FIs will have to maintain records for all employees.
USD DOJ Repatriates $460m of Seized 1MDB Funds to Malaysia. Seized and repatriated 1MDB funds are being utilised to repay and service 1MDB and SRC’s debts, which remain above $10.2billion.
PCAOB Proposes Framework for HFCAA Determinations. The PCAOB will use the proposed framework to determine when it is unable to carry out inspections of overseas audit firms of US-listed companies.
US DOJ Penalises Swiss Life for Facilitating Tax Evasion. Swiss Life and its subsdiaries created and marketed insurance products specially designed for US persons seeking to hide offshore assets and evade tax.
COP Presidency Calls for Ambitious Climate Commitments. Private financial institutions are encouraged to join a net zero alliance, publish transition plans, phase out of coal, and commit to nature-positive finance.
Credit Sensitive Alternatives to RFRs Have Limited Durability: Bailey. Non-financial borrowers may not want their cost of borrowing to be driven by thin liquidity in CP and CD markets, says BOE governor Andrew Bailey.
CBIRC Issues Warning Against Improper Sales Practices. In a notice, the CBIRC points to regulatory violations by Ping An Bank in its credit card sales practices which violated the rights and interests of consumers.
HKMA, PBOC In Talks on Next Phase of Digital Yuan Tests. The next phase of technical testing will explore the feasibility of using the digital yuan in cross-border payments.
Pakistan to Pass Two New Laws to Meet FATF Action Plan. The laws cover the handling of forfeited properties and assets, and the transfer of money laundering cases to specialised agencies.
Greenidge Generation Holdings said it will operate an entirely carbon-neutral Bitcoin mining operation at this facility, starting June 1.
Argo Blockchain and DMG Blockchain Solutions have announced their partnership with the Crypto Climate Accord that aims to deescalate the carbon footprint of the crypto industry.
DeFi hacks are significantly growing along with the space itself, according to the Cryptocurrency Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Report by CipherTrace. From January to the end of April 2021, major crypto thefts, hacks, and frauds totaled USD 432m, with DeFi-related incidents making up 60% of this number. This is up from only 25% in 2020; in 2019, DeFi Hacks were virtually non-existent, they added. At USD 156m, the amount netted from DeFi-related hacks in the first five months of 2021 already surpasses the USD 129m stolen in DeFi-related hacks throughout all of 2020, per the report.
German police arrested six people over a crypto scam worth more than USD 36m.
Colonial Pipeline paid 75 BTC (USD 3.8m) to hackers when they fell victim to a ransomware attack.
Point72 is looking into making a move into the crypto space.
Huobi Group said it launched a wholly-owned subsidiary called Huobi Ventures that aims to deploy USD 100m into blockchain and crypto-related projects in their infancy over the next three years.
DBS Private Bank has launched a trust solution for cryptoassets via its subsidiary DBS Trustee to allow its private banking clients to invest in cryptoassets.
Digivault said it is the first stand-alone custodian wallet provider to receive approval from the UK Financial Conduct Authority to register as a custodian wallet provider.
Andrew Bailey said the central bank will be launching their own digital currency in the following few years, adding that crypto popularity is a “warning sign” and that these assets have no intrinsic value.
Naver is set to launch central bank digital currency (CBDC) services for the digital won – even though the central Bank of Korea is still yet to confirm that it will actually issue a token.
More crypto has been seized from tax evaders in South Korea, as regional tax authorities from around the country continue to examine crypto exchange records in search of irregularities from the highest band of taxpayers.
South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has conducted an audit of all South Korea’s major crypto exchanges – from the “big four” trading platforms to smaller and medium-sized exchanges.
HKMA Sets Out Next Steps for Implementing Open API Framework. Phase 3 and 4 API functions will be implemented progressively by 28 participating banks starting from December 2021, the HKMA says.
SWIFT, Accenture Explore Real-world Implications of CBDCs. SWIFT is planning trials in the coming months to explore how its platform could interact with CBDCs in cross-border payments.
CBIRC Offers New Model for Trust Firms to Dispose of Bad Assets. Trust companies can transfer bad assets to the balance sheet of China Trust Protection Fund, which was set up in 2014 to provide liquidity support to the trust sector through loans.
Taiwan FSC Fines Citibank, DBS for AML Violations. The regulator cited failures related to customer due diligence, review mechanisms, transaction monitoring, risk assessment, and investigations.
Korea to Establish a Third Corporate Restructuring Fund. The fund will be 45% funded by state-backed financial institutions, while the rest of the investment will come from the private sector.
CBIRC Green-lights BlackRock-CCB Wealth Management Venture. The wealth management JV is 50.1% owned by BlackRock, 40% by China Construction Bank’s wealth management subsidiary, and 9.9% owned by Temasek.
Korea: New Rules for Chinese Walls to Take Effect from 20 May. Financial investment businesses are required to establish internal control standards to prevent information sharing of material nonpublic information between units.
China: NAFMII Revises Rules for Credit Derivatives. The rules remove a restriction that prohibited CDS and CLN from being linked to instruments other than non-financial corporate debt.
Taiwan FSC to Launch Inspections at FIs to Assess Sales Practices. The FSC will conduct inspections at 10 banks, 6 credit unions, 6 insurers and 3 securities firms to check whether they have sold high-risk products to seniors.
SEC Thailand Issues Guidelines for Distressed Bond Funds. Only institutional and ultra-HNW investors will be allowed to invest in distressed bond funds, which will be non-redeemable but have a maturity date prescribed.
Binance is under investigation by the US Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service, Bloomberg reported, citing undisclosed people with knowledge of the matter, and noting that the federal agencies haven’t accused Binance of wrongdoing.
MicroStrategy said it has purchased an additional BTC 271 for USD 15m in cash at an average price of USD 55,387 per BTC.
Rick Rieder told CNBC that Bitcoin (BTC) is durable and “it will be part of the investment arena for years to come.” According to him, challenges that BTC faces “will be overcome over time.”
Animoca Brands said it raised USD 88.89m, valuing the company at USD 1bn.
Mogo Inc. said it intends to increase its ownership position in Coinsquare from 19.9% to approximately 37% in a USD 47m – USD 49m deal.
Cowen Digital Asset Investment Company said they have partnered in order to enable Cowen’s institutional clients to secure, access, and leverage cryptocurrencies and digital assets in their portfolios.
Grayscale Investments said it has publicly filed a Registration Statement on Form 10 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on behalf of Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund.
Vietnam’s Sky Mavis has received USD 7.5m in funding from crypto man-of-the-moment Mark Cuban.
Argo Blockchain said it has completed the acquisition of the two data centers in Quebec, Canada.
Samsung Electronics said that blockchain users can now manage and trade virtual assets from third-party wallets on Samsung Galaxy smartphones.
Microsoft is shutting down its Azure Blockchain Service on September 10, 2021.
Governments should embrace digital currencies or risk private companies taking control of the money people use, Bloomberg reported, citing Jon Cunliffe, deputy governor of the UK central bank.
India’s central bank is informally urging lenders to cut ties with cryptocurrency exchanges and traders as the highly speculative market booms, despite a Supreme Court ruling that banks can work with the industry.
The central Bank of Korea has announced that it will step up its monitoring efforts for companies and individuals it suspects of secretly buying or holding crypto.
Alipay has launched a pilot digital yuan wallet, in a sign that the digital yuan may not have to take on existing payment solutions in a battle to the death after all. Per 18183.com and CLS, a test group of selected Alipay users can now activate a digital yuan wallet tab from their app interfaces, allowing them to send and receive the pilot token and link the wallet to their bank accounts.
Unstoppable Domains said that with the latest Brave browser update, Brave users on desktop and Android platforms have access to 30,000 decentralized websites and 700,000 blockchain domain names registered with Unstoppable Domains.
AppSwarm Corp. announced a global initiative to build a network of developers around DogeLabs’ blockchain research project, as they aim to build a sort of decentralized network of Dogecoin (DOGE) development teams across the globe.
tZERO said it has signed agreements with three platforms: OmniValley, Inc., Trellis Platform, Inc., and Wunderfund, Inc.
Chinese-speaking investors are attempting to sue an alleged New York-based crypto fraudster who ran a WeChat group claiming that members could expect to “earn USD 200,000 in one day” and see returns of over 330%. The mastermind, named Sun, was running what he called a multinational blockchain and crypto-themed investment group and teaches American stock trading courses online.
Resolution Authorities Should Have Operational Independence: BIS. The institutional location of the resolution function is commonly the central bank, prudential supervisor or deposit insurer. This decision often entails trade-offs.
Australia’s Financial Sector Welcomes 2021‑22 Budget Initiatives. The measures include an FMI reform package, relief for foreign financial service firms, changes to the superannuation system, and a new commencement date for the CCIV regime.
MAS Consults on Proposed AML Notices for Foreign Offices, FRCs. MAS seeks comment on four notices, which contain requirements on record-keeping, internal policies, and the provision of records to MAS upon request.
SEBI Enhances Sustainability Reporting Requirements for Listed Entities. The new Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reports will contain disclosures relating to ESG risks, sustainability performance, environmental metrics, and social factors.
Shanghai, Korea Agree to Establish ETF Cross-Listing Mechanism. Under an MoU, the SSE and KRX will work towards ETF cross-listings, joint development of indices, and stronger cooperation in the bond market.
Working Group Publishes Recommendations on EURIBOR Fallbacks. Although EURIBOR is not scheduled to be discontinued, the recommendations will provide legal certainty and help users comply with BMR fallback obligations.
DSB Launches Second Consultation on UPI Fee Model. The consultation covers UPI data access mechanisms, file download timing, user fees, a proposed contingency fund, cost allocation, invoicing, and capex amortisation.
ASX Finalises Enhancements to Client Money Framework. Subject to the regulatory clearance, the enhanced client money framework will come into effect on 2 August 2021, with a 12-month transition period.
Philippine SEC Rates Securities Sector as Medium Risk for Money Laundering. The SEC found that investment houses and underwriters presented ‘medium-high’ risk, compared to ‘medium’ risk for the securities sector overall.
China to Launch RBD Palm Olein Options, Open to Foreign Investors. The DCE is consulting on a new RBD Palm Olein options contract that will be open to foreign investors, as well as an adjustment to its iron ore futures contract.
US inflation is rising more than expected—in April alone, it grew by the most since 2009, amid rising concerns about the inflationary pressure. The consumer price index (CPI) rose to 4.2%, twice as much as the highest projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists.
Jack Mallers said that “the world’s first Bitcoin Car” will be racing at the 105th running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 30. “Future hall of fame auto racing driver Ed Carpenter of Ed Carpenter Racing has forfeited all sponsors this year and together we are breaking the traditional sponsorship model,” Mallers said.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston is doing research on the technology that could be used to create a hypothetical digital currency through a joint project with MIT’s Digital Currency Initiative.
Solana Foundation said they have partnered with Hacken Foundation, Gate.io, Coin DCX, and BRZ to launch three strategic investment funds that will bring USD 60m of new capital to the Solana (SOL) ecosystem.
Bitwise Asset Management said it launched the Bitwise Crypto Industry Innovators ETF (NYSE: BITQ).
Physical Bitcoin ETP listed on the Deutsche Börse’s Xetra platform.
Hashdex Gestora de Recursos Ltda have raised USD 26m in a funding round led by Softbank Group and Coinbase.
South Korea’s NongHyup (NH) Bank has followed suit with rival Woori Bank in placing caps on cash remittances as kimchi premium-related BTC trading continues amid government pressure on banks to intervene.
The Texas House of Representatives passed a bill that would recognize cryptocurrencies under commercial law, and it has now moved to the Texas Senate for amendments and a potential final vote.
The Argentinian tax body has demanded that crypto exchanges in the country submit trading data to tax officials – as the nation shapes up to become the latest to start hunting down tax evaders who trade crypto.
Meanwhile, Hungary plans to slash the tax on cryptocurrency earnings by 50% from next year in an effort to encourage investors to declare income from crypto trading.
TaoTao and BITpoint have won official recognition as government-recognized “first-class” financial services providers.
Crypto.com has become the first such service to receive the Class 3 Virtual Financial Assets (VFA) License from the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA).
Bitrue said it established a new investment fund worth USD 50m.
Former executives of crypto exchange BitMEX will face trial on March 28th, 2022 on charges of money laundering and violating the Bank Secrecy Act, Law360 reported.
Bitcoin is a speculative and volatile store of value, Gary Gensler, Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), told CNBC, adding that “a lot of crypto tokens — I won’t call them cryptocurrencies for this moment — are indeed securities.”
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has refused to block cryptoasset trades in general, instead leaving the ultimate decision to the banks themselves, according to a report by the Economic Times.
The US Department of the Treasury announced that Michael J. Hsu will become Acting Comptroller of the Currency on May 10.
Nuvei announced that they are set to acquire fintech startup Simplex, which provides a fiat infrastructure to the crypto industry, for around USD 250m.
A survey by the US Federal Reserve found that one fifth of the respondents consider cryptocurrency a threat to financial stability.
Square saw their quarterly revenue more than tripling, in no small part due to Bitcoin’s booming popularity.
Boerse Stuttgart has listed Cardano (ADA) and Stellar (XLM) exchange-traded notes (ETNs) with their price tracked in relation to the euro.
Bitpay has added the Dai (DAI) stablecoin and Wrapped BTC (WBTC) as a payment option for merchants.
Bitfarms said that its application to list its common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market was approved by Nasdaq under the symbol “BITF.”
NYDIG said that John Dalby has joined their team in the same position.
Bitpanda said it raised further a EUR 10m (USD 12m) as an extension of its Series B round.
New York Attorney General Letitia James has taken legal action to immediately halt “the continued illegal and fraudulent operations” of the cryptocurrency trading platform Coinseed.
APRA to Adopt Standard Quarterly Reporting Due Dates for ADIs. APRA will implement the due date of 35 calendar days after the reporting period for all quarterly reporting forms, except for the modernised EFS reporting forms.
EBA Consults on Proposals for Central AML/CFT Database. The central database will serve as an early warning tool to enable competent authorities to act before ML/TF risks crystalise and faciltiate inspections and monitoring.
CSRC Adds Environment & Social Responsibility to Disclosure Rules. A new chapter on environmental and social responsibility has been added to the disclosure rules for publicly listed companies. The consultation is open until 7 June.
Shenzhen Launches Pilot Scheme for Cross-border Investment. The pilot scheme can be used by qualified domestic investors to invest overseas in unlisted companies and private equity funds.
CBIRC to Implement New Licensing Rules for FIs From 1 July. Under the new rules, CBIRC supervised institutions will be classified into three categories – financial, insurance and insurance intermediary.
Philippine SEC Joins ASEAN Framework for Cross-border Funds. Regulators from Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand – already part of the initiative – have signed a supplemental MoU admitting the Philippine SEC into the CIS framework.
Korean Lawmakers Push for Tougher Crypto Legislation. Lawmakers are pushing for tougher crypto legislation to protect crypto investors against unfair practices and price manipulation.
RBI to Review Supervisory Process for Banks, UCB, NBFCs. Firms are invited to help the RBI review its supervisory processes for the banking sector and the supervisory ratings models used for UCBs and NBFCs.
CFA Institute Launches Working Group to Examine SPACs. The working group will publish a report in early 2022 and present its findings and policy recommendations, to US and global regulators.
FSC Taiwan to Order LINE Bank to Improve Operations. The FSC says LINE Bank’s report explaining its launch day system failure was not satisfactory. The regulator will ask the bank improves its operations.
Malaysia Files 22 Civil Suits to Recover 1MDB Losses. Among those named in the lawsuits are Deutsche Bank, Coutts, JPMorgan, former prime minister Najib Razak, and Malaysian financier Jho Low.
APRA Consults on Additional Revisions to Capital Rules. In an October 2019 consultation, APRA proposed that banks would have to hold more capital against equity investments in large subsidiaries.
How Derivatives Exchanges Can Promote Sustainable Development. A new report from the WFE and the UN’s SSE Initiative offers guidance on how derivatives exchanges can facilitate the sustainability transition.
WEF Publishes Report Outlining Capital Market Use Cases of DLT. The report calls for a balance between innovation and market safeguards through standardisation, the breaking down of silos and regulatory engagement.
Hong Kong Launches Grant Scheme to Lure OFCs, REITs. OFCs and REITs that set up in Hong Kong can secure funding to cover 70% of eligible expenses paid to Hong Kong-based service providers.
Korea Offers Additional Support to SMEs, Low-Rated Corporates. The FSC has announced additional support for SMEs, low-rated companies, and corporate bond and CP issuers.
Malaysia to Allow Circuit Breaker to Revert to Original Parameters. The decision reflects the improving economic outlook, the roll-out of the vaccination programme, and the normalisation of global market conditions.
OTC Clear Launches Clearing for SOFR-HONIA Cross-currency Swaps. The SFC has approved the launch of clearing services for cross-currency interest rates swaps and basis swaps referencing HONIA and SOFR.
S. Korea to Curb Household Debt Through DSR Rule Changes. Regulators will apply the debt service ratio at the individual borrower level rather than at the financial institution level.
US Court Lifts Investment Ban Against Luokung Technology Corp. Separately, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom have lost their appeals of a NYSE decision to delist their shares.
UBS Group AG is in the early stages of planning to offer wealthy customers digital currency investments and is exploring several alternatives.
VanEck Associates aims to launch the first US exchange-traded fund (ETF) tracking Ethereum (ETH).
Babel Finance said it completed its strategic Series A fundraising of USD 40m.
DappRadar said it has raised USD 5m in a Series A funding event led by investors such as Prosus Ventures, Blockchain.com Ventures, and NordicNinja VC.
Xcad Network has raised USD 3.9m in a private funding round, led by Zilliqa.
Covalent has sold USD 10m worth of its native coin CQT in a CoinList token sale.
HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd. said it has sold Kolos Norway AS to the local municipality Narvik.
Crypto.com announced that the Ethereum Virtual Machine support on their Crypto.com Chain will launch on July 14th.
MAS Issues Revised Corporate Governance Guidelines for FIs. The guidelines provide good practices that financial institutions should observe in relation to their corporate governance and remuneration frameworks.
Chinese Regulators Issues Draft Rules for Wealth Connect Scheme. A 150bn yuan ceiling is proposed as the trading quota for the new scheme, with a 1mn yuan individual limit. A launch date has not yet been set.
IOSCO Finds Gaps in BCP Rules for Trading Venues, Intermediaries. Some jurisdictions have regulatory requirements for critical systems of trading venues that do not extend to outsourced functions.
China’s Long March to Net Zero: ESG Investor. Corporates are a few steps behind on ESG disclosures, but momentum is building under pressure from regulators and investors.
ARRC Identifies Indicators for Recommending SOFR-based Term Rate. The ARRC has published guidance on the indicators it will use to measure the progress needed to recommend a SOFR-based term rate.
China to Launch Crude Oil Options, Open to Foreign Investors. Shanghai INE is seeking feedback on a new crude oil options contract that will be open to foreign investors. Trading simulations will run for two weeks.
FMSB Publishes Final Standard on Execution of Large Trades. The Standard establishes principles for how dealers should behave when executing large trades to mitigate market impacts, conduct risks and conflicts of interest.
Australia Set to Announce A$1.2bn Digital Economy Strategy. The full strategy will be released on 11 May, and include investments in artificial intelligence, cyber security, the CDR rollout, and Australia’s digital identity system.
BIS Innovation Hub, Bank of Italy Launch G20 TechSprint Initiative. Private firms are invited to develop technological solutions to address operational problems in green and sustainable finance.
Australia to Require Debt Management Firms to Be Licensed. Firms providing debt management services need to apply to ASIC for a credit licence and become a member of AFCA by 30 June 2021.
Western Union said it has teamed up with Google to provide users in the US with access to Western Union’s “digital money movement experience” via the Google Pay app.
David Glazer said that not only has this American software company been considering adding bitcoin (BTC) to its balance sheet, it also accepts the cryptocurrency as a form of payment from customers.
Revolut is partnering with Elliptic to broaden its cryptocurrency offering.
Stanley Druckenmiller claims that US Federal Reserve policies aimed at keeping markets and the economy afloat during the pandemic could end up threatening the long-term health of the US dollar.
eBay on Tuesday allowed the sale of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for digital collectibles like trading cards, images or video clips on its platform.
Cboe Global Markets has filed for a Fidelity Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the US.
Wilder World has raised USD 3m that will be used to create an art NFT metaverse.
Digital assets investment products saw inflows totaling USD 373m last week, “highlighting a resurgence in demand,” CoinShares, said, adding that some providers continue to see outflows “in what we believe is continued profit-taking behavior.”
Panda Stealer is prowling through phishing emails and Discord links, cybersecurity company Trend Micro said. Once it is downloaded, it starts looking for keys and addresses associated with crypto wallets, but also the login data for NordVPN, Telegram, Discord, and Steam accounts.
Ubisoft has added a new set of eleven startups to its Entrepreneurs Lab accelerator program, five of which are blockchain-based, the company revealed in a blog post.
Indonesia is looking into ways to tax crypto trading. A spokesman added that “It is important to know that […] if there is a profit or capital gain generated from a transaction, the profit is an object of income tax.”
Bosnia and Herzegovina is readying a draft bill that would for the first time try to regulate cryptoassets in this country in south-eastern Europe.
Balancer Labs (BAL) has launched Balancer V2, a new generalized protocol for automated market makers (AMMs) that aims to improve the existing features of the tool.
Israel’s central bank is considering issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
Metromile said it will soon allow policyholders the option to pay for insurance and receive payment for eligible and approved insured claims in bitcoin (BTC) or dollars.
Bakkt Holdings announced a strategic partnership with Cantaloupe to bring a new, cashless experience for consumers to spend digital assets at unattended retail devices.
Crypto.com said it is now the official crypto partner of the Italian football league Lega Serie A, and the partnership will result in a special NFT collection commemorating the league final match between Atalanta and Juventus on May 19th.
Dunamu said that it will spend KRW 10bn (USD 8.9m) to set up a unit to protect crypto investors.
Coinbase said that the company is moving to a completely remote workspace and disbanding their headquarters.
Resorts World Las Vegas and Gemini announced a partnership to explore future opportunities which would allow patrons to use their Gemini crypto wallet to enhance the integrated resort experience.
Criptan has made a raft of new executive appointments as it targets growth in the Latin America region, beginning in Mexico.
An earnings report by Mercado Libre shows that the company has purchased USD 7.8m worth of bitcoin (BTC).
State Street Corporation has launched a Bitcoin Thematic Indicator series that quantifies media coverage of the asset to gauge the market sentiment.
Bitso has become a unicorn as its valuation reached USD 2.2bn, following a Series C round of funding that injected them with a total of USD 250m.
Safello’s initial public offering (IPO) was oversubscribed by 1,240%—with a total of SEK 40.5m (USD 4.8m) available.
Streami Inc. has announced that they’ve received a strategic investment from Digital Currency Group (DCG).
Bitski has raised USD 19m in a Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz.
Upshot said it has raised USD 7.5m in Series A funding co-led by Framework Ventures, CoinFund, Blockchain Capital, and other investors.
VanEck has launched a new thematic equity exchange-traded fund (ETF) in Europe providing exposure to companies deriving significant revenue from the digital assets ecosystem.
CoolBitX announced their partnership with global data & technology company ComplyAdvantage.
Nokia has launched a blockchain-powered Data Marketplace that will facilitate the sharing of both data and AI models.
Kazakhstan’s central bank has announced that it is preparing to launch a pilot for its central bank digital currency (CBDC) project.
Crypto miners will also have to pay tax from next year in South Korea – in addition to crypto traders, who will also face a flat-rate 20% tax bill on their profits.
Mitigating FX Settlement Risk in Japan’s Pensions Industry. Margaret Law and Makoto Miyazaki discuss the need for Japanese pension funds to adopt PvP settlement to mitigate FX settlement risk.
SGX RegCo Deploys AI & Machine Learning to Detect Risk. SGX RegCo is adapting information from companies’ disclosures into structured data that can be more quickly analysed.
Japan to Incorporate Human Rights in Governance Code – Report. Authorities will be pushing companies to root out potential forced labour and human trafficking abuses in their supply chains.
SFC May Have Doubts About Allowing SPAC Listings – Report. HKEX is preparing to consult the market by end-June at the earliest. However, market participants believe the odds are low that SPACs will be allowed in Hong Kong.
CBIRC Optimises Supervision of Foreign Banks in China. The move is expected to allow foreign banks to play a role in facilitating China’s financial market opening-up and channelling funds into the economy.
New Zealand Passes Financial Market Infrastructures Bill. The Bill provides the RBNZ and FMA with comprehensive regulatory, supervisory, enforcement, and crisis management powers in respect of important FMIs.
MAS Launches FinTech Hackcelerator Focused on Green Finance. Fintech firms and solution providers are invited to submit innovative solutions to address any of 52 problem statements related to green finance.
Australian Banks Face Backlash for Refusal to Finance Coal, Mining. Small business ombudsman Bruce Billson is seeking powers to compel banks to “show cause” for decisions to refuse services to companies.
China SOEs Directed to Rein In Unauthorised Derivatives Trading. SOEs are directed to ensure their subsidiaries are qualified and properly approved to trade financial derivatives, and able to manage the associated risk.
HKEX Proceeds to Delist Shares of Convoy Global Holdings. HKEX says its Listing Review Committee has upheld the May 2020 decision to cancel the listing of Convoy Global Holdings.
HKEX to Lessen Profit Requirement Hike for Main Board IPOs. The three-year profit requirement will be raised from HK$50mn to HK$80mn, compared to the HK$125mn or HK$150mn options proposed in November.
US Lawmakers Call for ‘War-like Footing’ Against Corruption. In a letter to Janet Yellen, two lawmakers have called for AML obligations to be expanded to hedge funds, private equity, and other professional enablers.
RBI Announces Support Measures for Second Covid Wave. The measures include liquidity for bank lending to businesses, continued regulatory exemptions, and an additional round of restructuring and moratoria flexibility.
RBNZ to Consider Further Calibration of LVR Restrictions. The RBNZ may further tighten mortgage lending to guard against financial stability risks through adjustments to LVR restrictions.
KRX Mulls Additional Measures to Attract Unicorn Listings. Ahead of the introduction of dual-class shares, KRX will provide guidelines to help founders secure management rights jointly with other large shareholders.
Australia Considers Making CDR Data More Portable. Under draft rules, accredited businesses would be able to share CDR data with their agents, or sponsor other parties to become accredited.
BSP Extends Regulatory Relief for Banks Pending ‘FIST’ Rescue. The BSP has extended the higher single borrower limit and relief on loan classification, pending full operationalisation of the FIST Act.
AUSTRAC Orders Mutual Bank to Uplift AML Compliance. Australian Military Bank is required to conduct a risk assessment, and then work to improve its KYC, transaction monitoring, EDD, and reporting systems.
ASIC Files Suit Against Westpac for Alleged Insider Trading. ASIC says Westpac traded interest rate derivatives to pre-position itself while knowing it would be selected to execute a A$12bn interest rate swap hours later.
Singapore Court Jails Former CFO for Loan Fraud. The former CFO of Coastal Oil Singapore conspired with three colleagues to deceive 8 banks into disbursing over $300mn in loans.
Balancer and Gnosis team up for Uniswap v3 rival Cowswap.
Inverse Finance acquires Tonic in a possible first-ever protocol merger.
Lido looks to go cross-chain.
Federal Reserve says DeFi may lead to “Paradigm Shift”.
NYDIG has partnered with Fidelity National Information Services to enable US banks to offer bitcoin (BTC) to their customer in coming months.
Grayscale Investments and the New York Giants today announced their partnership making Grayscale the Official Digital Currency Asset Management Partner of the New York Giants.
Blockchain.com has announced the acquisition of AiX Assets.
WallStreetBets said they will create a blockchain application to decentralize indices in order to prevent market manipulation.
Bit Digital has joined Foundry Digital’s mining pool.
EQUOS has revealed that their trading volume has gone up by 300% over the last 30 days.
The National Bank of Georgia (NBG) said it is considering launching a publicly available central bank digital currency (CBDC) to leverage new technologies to enhance efficiencies of the domestic payment system and financial inclusion.
The Crypto Giving Pledge has unveiled the four members of their Founders Circle: Ryan Selkis, CEO of Messari, Dan Matuszewski, founder of CMS Holdings, Qiao Wang, partner at DeFi Alliance, and Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly Capital.
Compute North has onboarded Nelu Mihai as their new Chief Technology Officer, the company announced in an email.
Regulatory Reporting Lessons from Singapore and Australia. MAS and APRA are among the regulators that have wholeheartedly endorsed the use of technology to improve the quality, accuracy and speed of reporting.
Multicoin Capital said it has raised a new USD 100m venture fund to back entrepreneurs building companies (equity), and protocols (tokens) in and around the crypto space. “We have been investing out of this vehicle for several months already,” they added.
HKMA Adjusts Scope of Mandatory Reference Checking Regime. The HKMA has adjusted the scope of the regime, shortened the record retention requirement, and lengthened the time allowed to respond to an MRC request.
Standard and Poor’s has launched three indices for crypto markets in a sign of growing mainstream adoption.
New Zealand Launches First Carbon Efficient Indices. All S&P/NZX 50 companies are covered in the new indices. Constituent weights will be adjusted based on carbon intensity and emissions performance.
A group of investors made up of Arrington XRP Capital, Blocktower Capital, Spartan Group, and Skynet Trading have invested a total of USD 11.5m in SCRT, the native token of the Secret Network blockchain.
HKMA Issues Guideline on Green & Sustainable Finance Grant Scheme. The grant amount for each bond issue will be half of the eligible expenses, capped at HK$2.5mn for rated bonds and HK$1.25mn for unrated bonds.
Iris Energy Pty is considering going public.
China: Policy Banks Pilot Direct Bidding Mechanism for Bond Issuance. The pilot could mark a significant revamp in how bond issuance is carried out in China, and is seen as another step by the government to attract foreign capital.
Swiss bank SEBA said it is expanding their DeFi offering with three new cryptoassets: synthetix (SNX), uniswap (UNI), and yearn finance (YFI), now bring the number of cryptoassets offered by the bank to a total of nine.
IMF Offers Guidance to Central Banks on Fintech, Cybersecurity. The surge of technological innovation and related cybersecurity issues strengthen the need for enhanced risk management at central banks, the IMF says.
Sotheby’s said it partnered with Coinbase and will accept BTC and ETH as a payment for a physical artwork for the first time.
Digital Dollar Project Prepares to Launch CBDC Pilot Tests. The DPP will launch five pilot programs over the next 12 months to measure the value of and inform the future design of a US CBDC.
Newer Argentinian crypto buyers tend to buy BTC or fiat USD-pegged stablecoins, according to local experts.
Australia Enhances Super Fund Performance Test in Draft Bill. Industry bodies broadly support the inclusion of administrative fees in the performance test, though an extra one million super accounts could fail the test as a result.
Bitstamp has announced they’re expanding in the US market. They intend to expand their institutional custody options and add a regulated derivatives offering in a team effort with traditional financial companies like Nasdaq and Silvergate.
OFAC Penalises MoneyGram & SAP for Sanctions Violations. In both cases, OFAC cited voluntary self-disclosures, the non-egregiousness of the violations, and remedial action as the reasons for the penalty amounts.
After delays, Coinbase has finally listed the ERC-20 iteration of tether (USDT). The coin will be available in all Coinbase-supported areas except New York State. It is also supported on Coinbase Pro.
BaFin Orders Deutsche Bank to Further Enhance AML Controls. Deutsche Bank is asked to further bolster safeguards against financial crime, including in its correspondent banking relationships and transaction monitoring.
Bybit is launching its own cloud mining service in May.
Getting Your Hands Dirty with IBOR Transition. Specialists from Bloomberg, Standard Chartered Bank, ING Bank and Clifford Chance discuss IBOR transition challenges and how to address them.
Ripple said that Rosa “Rosie” Gumataotao Rios, 43rd Treasurer of the United States, joined the Ripple Board of Directors while Kristina Campbell, former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of PayNearMe, became their new CFO.
China Consults on Expanded Scope of Futures Law. The revised draft expands the scope of the law to also cover “other derivatives”, while also raising penalties for violations.
The Maker Foundation returned MKR 84,000 from the Development Fund to MakerDAO in a step further towards their own obsolescence, as part of their gradual decentralization effort.
FCA Proposes Rule Changes to Encourage SPAC Listings. The FCA proposes to exempt SPACs that identify an acquisition target from being suspended, if they have certain investor protections in place.
The team that burned and tokenized an original Banksy piece, said it has raised USD 3m to launch Burnt Finance, a decentralized auction protocol built on Solana (SOL) to enable “fast and seamless auctions.”
BNM Finalises ‘Climate Change and Principle-based Taxonomy’. The document introduces a progressive system of transition categories to acknowledge concrete efforts and commitments by businesses to adopt sustainable practices.
The Australian Securities Exchange is reviewing a number of applications for a cryptocurrency-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) that could be launched as soon as this year.
China Consults on Revisions to Data Privacy, Data Security Laws. The latest revisions will impose stricter requirements on internet platforms and restrict Chinese firms from handing data to foreign agencies.
Digital Currency Group (DCG) said it has authorized the purchase by DCG of up to a total of USD 750m worth of shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust.
Canada Establishes Regulatory Regime for Financial Benchmarks. Once the regime is implemented, CDOR will become a designated benchmark with Refinitiv Benchmarks Services formally designated as its administrator.
INX Ltd said on Monday it expects to have raised USD 125m in a security token and equity offering.
FSC Warns Against Illegal Moves as Korea Resumes Short-Selling. Korean regulators have been working to enhance protection measures for retail investors ahead of the partial resumption of short-selling on Monday.
Andreessen Horowitz is looking to raise a fund of as much as USD 1bn to invest in cryptocurrencies and crypto startups.
APRA Chair Outlines Work to Address Key Risks to Financial Sector. APRA is piloting a risk culture survey, independent cyber security reviews, and a new data collection exercise on technology and cyber risks.
The Digital Dollar Project (DDP) said it will launch at least five pilot programs over the next 12 months.
RBNZ Calls on Banks to Avoid De-risking Pacific Island Nations. The RBNZ and RBA are working with Pacific Island nations to develop a regional KYC facility, to support businesses in meeting their compliance obligations.
Spartan Protocol was exploited to result in more than USD 30m loss on May 1.
SG Police Lays 23 Forgery Charges Against Hin Leong Founder. Lim Oon Kuin now faces a total of 25 charges – 14 counts of abetment of forgery for the purpose of cheating, and 11 counts of abetment of forgery simpliciter.
Thailand is the latest country to attempt to stamp out anonymity in crypto transactions – and will seek to force new crypto exchange customers to come to offices in person to verify their identity before they can open accounts on trading platforms.
It the end of March, the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance has formed a research team to look into cryptocurrencies.
Ethereum (ETH) wallet and Web 3.0 browser MetaMask warned its users that a new type of phishing bot has become active.
The government of Turkey has told crypto exchanges that they must abide by the same kind of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing protocols as the conventional financial sector.
A private member’s bill that proposes “institutionalizing” cryptoassets “such as bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum” in South Korea is set to be brought forward by a ruling party MP.
Ethereum-based Umbrella Network said it is now launching on Binance Smart Chain.
Spain’s University of Zaragoza has launched what it labeled a “pioneering study into the use of bitcoin in the payments field.
Data Analytics for AML Becoming Embedded at Singapore FIs: MAS. The increased use of data analytics and digital processes has led to increased AML/CFT effectiveness, according to Assistant Managing Director Ms Loo Siew Yee.
China Regulators Order Tech Firms to Rectify Regulatory Violations. Thirteen tech firms including Tencent, ByteDance and Baidu’s fintech arm are directed to correct regulatory violations in their financial services businesses.
AUSTRAC Issues Guidance on Filing More Effective SMRs. The new resources include a reference guide and checklist, and feature guidance on how to write succinct, accurate and clear grounds for suspicion.
Australia Seeks Partners to Help Develop Carbon Exchange. Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator is seeking a partner or partners to facilitate the emergence of an exchange-traded market for carbon offset units.
IFRS Foundation Consults on Revisions to Constitution. The proposed amendments expand the Foundation’s objectives and set out the structure and function of the new International Sustainability Standards Board.
Cboe to Launch New European Venue for Equity Derivatives. Clients will benefit from having more choice, and lower friction pricing models will promote greater liquidity, says Morgan Stanley’s David Russell.
MAS Launches RegTech Grant Scheme, Enhances DAG Scheme. The grant scheme is available to Singapore-based FIs to help them enhance processes and capabilities in their risk management and compliance functions.
Treasury Announces New Chair, Deputy Chair for ASIC. The Treasury also said will introduce legislation by mid-year to establish the FRAA, a new body to oversee the performance of ASIC and APRA.
APRA Issues Draft Prudential Practice Guide on Remuneration. The guidance will assist entities in complying with APRA’s new standard on remuneration, which is expected to be finalised later this year.
Savings Banks Introduce Open Banking Services: FSC Korea. Open banking is now being provided by all types of deposit-taking institutions in Korea. Credit card companies will start from end-May.
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has sold its 1.4% stake in Coinbase. The exchange has denied the allegations that its executives sold large amounts of their stock holdings following the company’s listing.
CME Micro Bitcoin (BTC) futures trading will begin at the start of the Globex session on Sunday.
Revolut UK customers using their Revolut Metal premium account will be allowed to withdraw bitcoin to another BTC wallet outside the Revolut ecosystem.
MicroStrategy has announced financial results for Q1 2021. CEO Michael Saylor said that the company had one of its strongest operational quarters in their software business in years.
Fidelity Investments announced Sherlock.
Hotbit said it “suffered a serious cyber attack starting around 08:00 PM UTC, April 29, 2021.
A Turkish court jailed pending trial six suspects late on Thursday as part of a probe into Thodex.
Coinbase said it is acquiring skew.
Dispersion Holdings made its debut on London’s Aquis Stock Exchange Growth Market (AQSE).
Inverse Finance’s governance has approved a proposal to acquire Tonic Finance in a USD 1.6m deal.
Automated market makers (AMMs) have catalyzed the explosion of DeFi over the past year, but they are burdened with problems, wrote Haseeb Qureshi.
Daniyar Akmatov said that a rise crypto mining is “one of the reasons” for an energy shortfall that has been exacerbated by low levels of investment in the sector.
The first purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) has been made on a Sberbank-operated blockchain platform.
Jason Somensatto is the new acting director of LabCFTC, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) financial technology research division.
