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The POSA updated its staking principles to say that providers should communicate clearly and should not control the amount of liquidity a user must provide. The Proof of Stake Alliance (POSA), a non-profit organization that represents firms in the crypto staking industry, published an updated version of its “ staking principles” on Nov. 9. The new principles are supported by Ava Labs, Alluvial, Coinbase, Lido Protocol, Paradigm, and ten other staking industry firms. Previous version of the POSA staking principles. Source: POSA. POSA represents 15 different firms in the staking industry, including Alluvial, Ava Labs, Blockdaemon, Coinbase, Credibly Neutral, Figment, Infstones, Kiln, Lido Protocol, Luganodes, Methodic, Obol, Polychain, Paradigm, and Staking Rewards. The staking principles were first published in 2020. According to the blog post that announced them, the POSA staking principles are meant to be “a set of industry-driven solutions” that provide rs can implement to addr...

The UK government has rolled out proposals on how to regulate fiat-backed stablecoins. Crypto companies that want to offer services with overseas stablecoins like Tether (USDT) in the UK must get permission from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). According to the update on plans for regulating fiat-backed stablecoins, fiat-backed stablecoins issued in or from the UK by authorized persons will be permitted for use in the country. The government also said it “wishes to accommodate” overseas fiat-backed stablecoins for goods and services but insisted that brokers or payment providers willing to work with these stablecoins will still have to be authorized by the FCA. You might also like: UK politician calls on FCA to be less aggressive on crypto ads Under the proposed update on the legislation, the FCA will also be able to rule the issuance and custody of fiat-backed stablecoins issued in or from the UK. Those stablecoins not backed by fiat “will still...

Demand for crypto in Hong Kong is mainly driven by institutional investors rather than retail customers, Zodia CEO said. Zodia, the institutional cryptocurrency custody platform co-owned by British banking giant Standard Chartered, Japanese SBI Holdings and the financial firm Northern Trust, is expanding its services to Hong Kong. Zodia Custody is launching services in Hong Kong in response to growing demand for crypto from institutions, Zodia CEO Julian Sawyer said, according to a CNBC report on Oct. 29. According to Sawyer, the crypto demand in Hong Kong is mainly driven by institutional investors rather than retail customers, ideally matching Zodia’s crypto custody offering. He also mentioned that Hong Kong’s stance on crypto aligns with Zodia’s ambitions as the local government “sees digital assets as the future and also wants Hong Kong to be a hub.” Zodia’s launch in Hong Kong comes as the firm aggressively scales operations in Asia, opening services in Japan, Singapore and Austr...

Israeli authorities have reportedly requested information on over 100 crypto accounts in addition to the ones already blocked by Binance. Crypto exchange Binance is said to have blocked 100 more accounts related to Hamas, a militant group supported by a robust sociopolitical structure inside the Palestinian territories. Financial Times reports, citing sources “familiar with Israel’s enforcement actions,” the move was requested by the Israeli authorities. Israel has also requested information on up to 200 additional crypto accounts . While the scope of the request is not clear, it is said that most of the accounts “are held on Binance.” In a commentary to the Financial Times, a spokesperson for Binance confirmed that the exchange had blocked a “small number” of accounts but noted that restrictions have been implied since summer 2023 and added that it “follows internationally recognized sanctions rules.” You might also lik...

Michael Lewis's book 'Going Infinite' reveals that CZ and SBF had different goals when the first collaborative business opportunity arose in 2019. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao reportedly declined to pay $40 million to former FTX CEO Sam Bankman Fried for a futures crypto exchange in March 2019, according to an excerpt from Michael Lewis’ book “Going Infinite.” According to the book, SBF proposed a futures exchange with “zero risk” for the exchange in case of bad trades with high leverage. Traditionally, a futures exchange allows traders to leverage funds against a small collateral, and the exchange often asks traders to increase collateral in case the trade starts to go bad. However, in crypto, the price swings could be fast and significant which could leave exchanges with bad debts due to lack of collateral. However, FTX wanted to create a futures exchange that would monitor the trader’s activity and, as soon as the trade surmounted the collateral, would liquidate the us...

Paradigm pointed out that the SEC is attempting to use the concerning accusations in its complaint as a means to alter the law, all without adhering to the established rulemaking process. Paradigm, a crypto venture capital firm, has criticized the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for bypassing the standard rulemaking procedures in their current legal action against the cryptocurrency exchange Binance. In a statement released on Friday, Sept. 29, Paradigm pointed out that the SEC is attempting to use the concerning accusations in its complaint as a means to alter the law, all without adhering to the established rulemaking process. Paradigm firmly believes that the SEC is exceeding its regulatory boundaries, and we strongly oppose this tactic, they further stated. Back in June, the SEC initiated a legal action against Binance, accusing them of multiple violations of securities laws, such as operating without the necessary registration as an exchange, broker-dealer...

In just a year, Hong Kong has moved from being a cryptocurrency-unfriendly region to claiming the top spot among the most cryptocurrency-ready countries and territories. What is the reason for such dramatic changes? According to Forex Suggest research, Hong Kong is best suited for widespread crypto currency adoption. A country that is ready to implement crypto currency has certain indicators, including the number of businesses accepting crypto currencies, a favorable regulatory environment, a thriving startup culture, and fair tax policies. Source: Forex Suggest A brief history of Hong Kong crypto regulation In October 2022, Hong Kong authorities officially announced that they intend to develop the cryptocurrency market in the region by creating appropriate regulatory standards. It was reported that the government, together with local financial regulators, will create “favorable conditions” for the development of the local cryptocurrency industry. Local authorities also announ...

Crypto broker eToro secures CySEC CASP approval, positioning itself to expand service s across the EU under the upcoming MiCA regulations in December 2024. In addition to the latest CASP license, eToro is authorized in various jurisdictions worldwide, including the UK, Australia, Cyprus, Gibraltar, and the USA. The broker also has digital asset provider registration with multiple countries, including Spain and France. eToro services in EU According to Financial Magnate, the broker can offer cryptocurrency services in all EU countries on a cross-border basis from one entity, eToro (Europe) Digital Assets Ltd. This will become possible in December 2024, when the EU Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation comes into force. “This registration signals that we are 100% ready to embrace a new era for crypto once MiCA comes into effect next year.” Dr Hedva Ber, Deputy CEO at eToro Europe is an essential region for the company, she added. This region is home to the majori...

The SEC argues that as ETH validators are concentrated more densely in the United States, ETH transactions are seen as taking place in the country. The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) has made an unprecedented claim that Ethereum transactions take place in the United States as ETH nodes are “clustered more densely” in the United States than any other country.  The SEC argument is found within a Sept. 19 lawsuit against crypto researcher and YouTuber Ian Balina, which alleged, among many other complaints, that Balina conducted an unregistered offering of Sparkster (SPRK) tokens when he formed an investing pool on Telegram in 2018. The SEC claims that at the time that U.S.-based investors participated in Balina’s investing pool, the ETH contributions were validated by a network of nodes on the Ethereum blockchain, “which are clustered more densely in the United States than in any other country.” The SEC argued that as a result, “those transactions took place in the United States.”...

Worldcoin project has remained controversial right from its announcement and currently facing regulatory trouble in multiple jurisdictions that it has launched. The iris scanning crypto project Worldcoin has now made it possible for even unverified customers to reserve their Worldcoin tokens (WLD). In an announcement on Aug. 11, the Worldcoi n project noted that the World app now offers a reservation s feature to make it easier for everyone to reserve their WLD tokens before verifying their World ID. The reservation will be valid for 12 months and users can redeem their reserved world tokens by visiting the iris scanning device called Orb. World App with reservation feature. Source: Worldcoin The Worldcoin project consists of three key elements: the Worldcoin ID, the Worldcoin App and the Worldcoin token (WLD). Users who are willing to scan their iris to create a biometric data-based ID system are rewarded with native WLD tokens. The iris scanning device is called Orb. The global d...

Vermont issued the investor alert after a 74-year-old man lost his life savings of over $340,000 in a crypto fraud orchestrated over Instagram and Telegram. The Vermont Department of Financial Regulation (DFR) — the United States state of Vermont’s financial regulatory agency — warned citizens against rising crypto investment frauds perpetrated over popular social media sites. On June 25, 74-year-old Naum Lantsman lost his life savings of $340,000 to a crypto scam orchestrated over Instagram and Telegram. The DFR referenced the incident as it emphasized “the need for Vermonters to exercise extreme caution and vigilance when using or investing in cryptocurrency.” A snippet of Vermont’s investor alert against crypto scams. Source: dfr.vermont.gov Instagram has been rated as the top platform connected to crypto fraud by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which is also true for Lantsman. His initial contact with the crypto scammer happened over Instagram, wherein he came across a post fr...

Trevor Power hopes the framework will fall closer on the “spectrum” to the EU’s MiCA, as opposed to the current regulatory position in the U.S. The Australian Treasury’s token mapping of digital assets will adopt a “tech agnostic ” and “principles-based” approach in order to define crypto assets, according to a Treasury official . Speaking to Cointelegraph on June 26 at the Australian Blockchain Week, Trevor Power, an Australian Treasury Assistant Secretary said the framework will be structured to easily classify tokens based on their “function” and “purpose.” “The token mapping paper spends a lot of time talking about the token, the system, the value delivered for the very purpose of trying to structure whatever regulation such that it draws on those principles so then a token can be placed within that,” Power said, adding: “It's trying to be tech agnostic. It's not trying to be token specific.” Power said “it’s fair to assume” crypto-specific legislation will appear someti...

Terraform and Do Kwon lawyers used a U.S. House hearing, Binance.US complaint and Hinman emails documents to dismiss the SEC lawsuit. The lawyers representing the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have contended that the additional documents submitted by Dentons, the legal counsel for Terraform and Do Kwon, in support of their motion to dismiss the lawsuit , lack adequate support for dismiss ing the case. The SEC’s counsel asserts that the Binance.US transcript and internal SEC emails, presented by the defense, hold no relevance to the current case. They argue that the Howey Test clearly defines the parameters of an "investment contract" and contend that UST should be classified as a security. In a court hearing on June 15, Dentons submitted supplementary documents to bolster their motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the U.S. SEC. The focus of the hearing was to determine if the digital assets developed by Terraform Labs should be classified as secu...

Last week, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ordered the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to respond to Coinbase’s request for clarifying the rulemaking .  According to documents shared by the exchange’s chief legal officer (CLO) Paul Grewal, the regulator has denied to “commit to any deadline despite the Court’s explicit order.” The SEC says in the letter that Coinbase’s petition might receive a recommendation within 120 days. Moreover, the SEC set the deadline to update the court on Oct. 11, 2023, according to Grewal’s tweet. In addition, the regulator asked the court to “take no action” before the time limit is reached. 4/5 pic.twitter.com/7obUPvATqK — paulgrewal.eth (@iampaulgrewal) June 13, 2023 Grewal added that the SEC disregards “the clear statements of the Chair that confirm they have no intent to issue new rules.” You might also like: Ava Labs CEO to testify before US House “Coinbase’s request for periodic reports is s...

Ether can simultaneously be a security and commodity under the regulatory scope of the SEC and CFTC, former CFTC commissioner Dan Berkovitz claimed. Ethereum’s native Ether (ETH) token may be both a commodity and a security, the former commissioner of the United States Commodities Futures Trading Commission has claimed. Speaking on a May 23 episode of Laura Shin’s Unchained podcast, Dan Berkovitz, who is also the former general counsel at the Securities and Exchange Commission, said that it’s legally possible for ETH to fall under the jurisdiction of both regulatory agencies. Laura Shin, Dan Berkovitz and Colin Lloyd speaking on the Unchained podcast. Source: YouTube The ongoing confusion over Ether’s legal status stems in large part from conflicting statements from the CFTC and the SEC. Over the course of the last six months, the CFTC has repeatedly called Ether, along with a number of other cryptocurrencies, a commodity. Meanwhile, the Gary Gensler-led SEC hasn’t explicitly provide...

The first subpoena was given to Marathon in the third quarter of 2021, concerning whether it may have violated federal securities laws relating to its data center in Hardin. Bitcoin (BTC) miner Marathon Digital has disclosed that it received another subpoena from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) relating to its 100-megawatt data center in Hardin, Montana. According to Marathon’s quarterly report filed May 10, it received the subpoena on April 10 “relating to, among other things, transactions with related parties” that occurred while it was creating the facility in Montana, adding: “We understand that the SEC may be investigating whether or not there may have been any violations of the federal securities law. We are cooperating with the SEC” The subpoena is the second one received by Marathon regarding the facility, as it also received one late in the third quarter of 2021 in which the SEC ordered the firm to produce a number of related documents and commun...

The market cap of USDC, a stablecoin issued by Circle, has reduced nearly by half over the past six months following a regulatory crackdown and banking crisis. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire says that a cryptocurrency crackdown by the United States regulators has been a major factor behind the declining market capitalization of its stablecoin, USD Coin (USDC). Circle chief’s comments on the U.S. crackdown come amid heavy regulatory scrutiny following the collapse of the FTX exchange, a banking crisis and USDC’s momentary depegging. During an interview with Bloomberg TV, Allaire noted that there is a “huge amount of concern globally about the U.S. banking system,” and the “regulatory environment in the U.S..” USDC depegged in March, a direct result of the U.S. banking crisis. Circle’s $3.3 billion worth of USDC reserves was stuck with Silicon Valley Bank, which was one of the three crypto-friendly banks shut down by regulators. At the time, Circle had assured its customers that it had the b...