Cryptocurrency Financial News
After the New York attorney general’s office produced evidence of Bitfinex engaging in business with New York-based firms and citizens, the crypto exchange claims that the firms it did business with were all Eligible Contract Participants, meaning the company is permitted by regulation to trade on unregistered foreign exchanges.
The US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has extended the deadline for member companies to report any crypto activity or planned crypto activity to July 2020 to “encourage” more firms to participate.
After a plaintiff sued a closed exchange for not returning their bitcoin, a judge in Hangzhou’s Internet Court in eastern China ruled that bitcoin should be thought of as virtual internet property and is therefore subject to China’s property laws.
With yesterday’s Senate hearing centering on lawmakers’ distrust of Facebook, the social media giant’s House Financial Services Committee hearing focused much more on what exactly Libra is and saw regulators speaking in a surprisingly positive manner about Bitcoin.
With new crypto laws set to come into effect at the end of this month, the Financial Markets Authority, France’s financial watchdog, is expected to approve a round of three to four initial coin offerings from crypto-related businesses. These approvals will be the first to take place under the new legislation.
During the first of two congressional hearings regarding Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency, project lead David Marcus went as far as to say he’d be willing to take his salary in Libra after intense grilling from Senator Sherrod Brown.
The Financial Conduct Authority, the UK’s financial watchdog, has posted two job listings seeking candidates with in-depth crypto knowledge as the agency looks to fill out its Intelligence Services Team.
The Federal Trade Commission has agreed to hand out a $5 billion fine on Facebook regarding its handling of user privacy during the Cambridge Analytica data breach. The Justice Department is now expected to review and approve the settlement.
With Facebook set to meet with the Senate on Tuesday and the House on Wednesday, Washington insiders report that lawmakers will be interested in Libra’s classification as a possible exchange-traded fund, what Facebook will do to ensure user privacy, and what the Swiss headquarters of the Libra Association will mean for US oversight of the project.
Members of the House Financial Services Committee are discussing the possibility of introducing legislation that would bar large technology institutions in the US from issuing cryptocurrencies.
In a set of anti-money-laundering amendments finalized late last month, the Canadian government will now classify both domestic and foreign crypto exchanges as money servicing businesses, meaning they must register with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada to conduct business.
A recent presentation given to US Internal Revenue Service agents in the Criminal Investigation Division reportedly shows the agency considering the use of grand jury subpoenas on firms such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft to check taxpayers’ download history for crypto-related apps.
The New York attorney general’s office has submitted 28 exhibits that they claim show Bitfinex and Tether conducting business in New York with state residents and businesses.
In 2014, the IRS announced cryptocurrency was subject to capital gains taxes, creating an accounting nightmare lawmakers have been eager to update to add clarity and promote crypto usage.
In a joint statement, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the US Securities and Exchange Commission explained that the delay in many crypto-related firms looking to obtain a broker-dealer license has to do with digital assets and whether or not they fulfill certain Security Investor Protection Act requirements.
In a letter sent to Facebook’s principals, including Mark Zuckerberg, Representative Maxine Waters asks the social media giant to stop “any movement forward on Libra,” fearing the project will lead to an entirely new global financial system based out of Switzerland.
In a letter written to the heads of five congressional committees, organizations including the Service Employees International Union and the Consumer Federation of America expressed their fears that regulators are not prepared to address the issues Facebook’s Libra project presents and that the social networking giant needs to present a fuller picture of its plans.
After being ordered to produce a list of his own early bitcoin addresses, Wright claimed he wouldn’t be able to comply with the order as courtroom tensions flared and the self-proclaimed Satoshi was threatened to be handcuffed.
The DC-based lobbyist group Blockchain Association will be taking over Defend Crypto, the crowdfunding initiative Kik started to help itself and other crypto-related businesses hit with lawsuits from the US Securities and Exchange Commission. In handing over control, Kik will take back the $5 million it initially contributed to the fund and donate $500,000 worth of Kin tokens.
Jed McCaleb, who founded Mt. Gox and sold his majority share to Mark Karpeles, is being accused of fraudulently misrepresenting the exchange before the sale, partially leading to its 2014 hack and eventual bankruptcy.
