Regulation

Criticisms of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are mounting as the agency remains unrelenting in its war on crypto. On April 21, Web3 venture capital firm Paradigm published a policy piece on the problems with SEC registration. It claimed that SEC chair Gary Gensler’s “attempt to brute force crypto assets that may

A number of firms claiming to offer artificial intelligence (AI) assisted crypto trading services have been hit with allegations of being “fraudulent investment schemes” by a California financial regulator, with two accused of using actors and AI to impersonate CEOs. On April 19 the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) issued desist and

Ben Armstrong, also known as ‘BitBoy Crypto’, missed a court appearance ordered by a federal magistrate judge in response to the YouTuber’s alleged harassment of counsel in a lawsuit involving several crypto influencers. Judge Melissa Damian had ordered Armstrong and his counsel to appear on April 20 to address the YouTuber’s “harassment towards plaintiffs’ counsel.”

Nigerian crypto exchange Roqqu has been granted regulatory approval to operate in South Africa, allowing users to purchase cryptocurrencies and withdraw funds with the country’s fiat currency, the South African Rand, according to local media reports.   South Africa has been a top priority for Roqqu as the exchange seeks to expand its dominance in the

Though a crypto-focused regulatory framework still needs approval from the European Council before final passage, many in the space have reacted positively to the Markets in Crypto Assets, or MiCA, bill moving forward. On April 20, the European Parliament voted to pass MiCA after two delays starting in November 2022. The crypto framework aims to

Binance is under investigation in Brazil by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office and Federal Police, according to a report in Valor Econômico newspaper. The cryptocurrency exchange has allegedly been helping clients evade a stop order on cryptocurrency derivatives investments. According to the newspaper, the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reported to the Attorney General of

The past few weeks have seen a wave of zero-knowledge proof project launches, including Polygon’s zkEVM and Matter Lab’s zkSync Era on mainnet, and the Linea zkEVM from ConsenSys on testnet. They join StarkWare’s long-running StarkEx solution and its decentralized cousin StarkNet along with a variety of other projects in development from Polygon (Miden, Zero,

The pilot for Russia’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot should have been launched on April 1, but it was delayed at practically the last moment due to the slow pace of the necessary associated legislation passing through parliament.  However, with the launch of the pilot still possible in May and the general roll-out of

On April 20, the European Parliament voted to pass the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, the European Union’s main legislative proposal to oversee the crypto industry in its member countries.  The MiCA regulation is a significant development for the crypto industry in the European Union. Prior to MiCA, crypto companies had to comply with 27

Hashing It Out Episode 16 explores one of the most popular use cases for cryptocurrencies: payments. Elisha Owusu Akyaw is joined by Ran Goldi, vice president of payments at Fireblocks, to explore the rapidly evolving world of crypto and payments, the steps necessary for adoption, the role of stablecoins, and the hurdles — such as

After two consecutive delays, the European Parliament has conducted the final vote on the Markets in Crypto-Assets Act, known as MiCA. Now the legislation, introduced for the first time back in 2020, needs approval from the European Council before becoming effective regulation. On April 20, immediately after voting, MiCA’s rapporteur and member of the European

Midjourney, Stability AI and DeviantArt issued a response on April 18 to a group of artists who accused them of extensive copyright infringement. The artists claimed that these companies had used their work in generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems without proper authorization. The companies filed their motions in a San Francisco federal court seeking the

A California judge has combined three investor lawsuits against defunct crypto bank Silvergate Bank involving the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX. On April 19, United States District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley of the Northern District of California ruled that the three lawsuits would be consolidated. Each accuses Silvergate of helping to facilitate investor fraud by the

Danish startup Januar announced April 19 that it has received a Payment Institution License from the country’s Financial Supervisory Authority (DFSA). The license will allow Januar to conduct business in the 30 European Economic Area markets, whereas it only served Danish companies under its previous limited permission. Januar provides International Bank Account Number (IBAN) business

Russia is taking further steps to mitigate global sanctions in place since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. According to local media reports, the country’s central bank plans to create new institutions to mine crypto assets and settle international payments.  In a meeting in the State Duma — one of the chambers of the Russian

United States lawmakers discussed the role of stablecoins in a committee hearing, but some experts expressed concern about the country’s regulatory environment. In an April 19 hearing of the U.S. Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion, Austin Campbell, an adjunct assistant professor at the Columbia Business School, said areas including Singapore, Dubai, Abu Dhabi,

OpenAI may soon face its biggest regulatory challenge yet as Italian authorities insist the company has until April 30 to comply with local and European data protection and privacy laws, a task artificial intelligence (AI) experts say could be near impossible.  Italian authorities issued a blanket ban on OpenAI’s GPT products in late March, becoming

A court based in Hong Kong has acknowledged cryptocurrencies as property that can be held in trust in a ruling involving the defunct crypto exchange Gatecoin.  In a report published by the law firm Hogan Lovells, Justice Linda Chan said that crypto has the attributes of a property. The court deemed that it was appropriate

The European Commission has launched a new research unit that will investigate the impact of the algorithms made and used by prominent online platforms and search engines such as Facebook and Google. The research unit dubbed the European Centre for Algorithmic Transparency (ECAT), launched on April 18 and will help the Commission identify and address any

A long sentence is being sought by United States prosecutors for an executive in a crypto shadow banking case that has dragged on for five years. On April 18, U.S. District Attorney Damian Williams filed a request in advance of the sentencing of Reginald Fowler which is scheduled for April 20. Fowler, the former minority