By Dr. Rosa Lastra and Dr. Jason Grant Allen Since the 1990s, the Internet has become the communications channel used for an increasing number of commercial and financial transactions, not least because it makes transacting across geographical distances quicker, easier, safer, and more affordable. Already in the 1990s, it became clear that the Internet was … Read more
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia have announced an agreement to cooperate on the creation of a cryptocurrency, UAE official news agency Emirate News Agency reports on Jan. 19. According to the report, the Executive Committee of the Saudi-Emirati Coordination Council has held a meeting in UAE capital Abu Dhabi, with 16 members … Read more
Nydia Remolina is the Legal Advisor for Innovation, Grupo Bancolombia Intense competition for technological innovation is informing not only business strategies for participants in financial markets, but also regulatory policy in forward-looking jurisdictions seeking to raise their profile as fintech hubs. Importantly, this is not just a phenomenon impacting US and EU markets, but also … Read more
A bill meant to clarify the classification of cryptocurrencies has been introduced in the U.S. state of Wyoming Jan. 18, according to the official state legislature website. The bill places crypto assets into three categories: digital consumer assets, digital securities and virtual currencies. The bill defines assets falling in any of those three categories as … Read more
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has stated that global regulators should work together to facilitate the development of initial coin offerings (ICOs), according to a report released Jan. 15. The document calls for regulatory clarity and a supervisory framework for ICOs, defining such moves as “a stepping stone to their safer use … Read more
Lawmakers from the U.S. state of Wyoming have introduced legislation that would allow the issuance of tokenized stock certificates using blockchain tech. On Wednesday, representative Jared Olsen (Republican), along with senator Chris Rothfuss (Democratic) and six other Republican representatives jointly filed House Bill 0185, titled “Corporate stock-certificate tokens,” proposing an amendment that would permit the use … Read more
A bill exempting companies providing non-custodial crypto services from certain state money transmitting laws has been resubmitted to the United States Congress. Data confirming this was published on the Congress’ official website on Jan. 14. The bill, titled “To provide a safe harbor from licensing and registration for certain non-controlling blockchain developers and providers of … Read more
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against nine defendants for participating in a previously disclosed scheme to hack into the SEC’s EDGAR system and extract nonpublic information to use for illegal trading. The SEC charged a Ukrainian hacker, six individual traders in California, Ukraine, and Russia, and two entities. The hacker and some … Read more
The consequences of the partial government shutdown for the poor, the environment, federal employees and those relying on government services or benefits have become painfully evident, and are getting worse. The shutdown is also starting to create serious problems for financial technology firms — slowing dealmaking, impairing supervision and casting a pall over the presumed … Read more
Cryptocurrencies are one of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s top examination priorities this year. Cryptocurrencies are one of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) top examination priorities this year, according to an official statement announced by the commission Dec. 20. In the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) recent report, … Read more