Autor Cointelegraph By David Attlee

Pat Toomey blames the SEC for crypto lending platform crisis

Pat Toomey blames the SEC for crypto lending platform crisis

Uverejnil používateľ | júl 29, 2022 |

According to Senator Pat Tomey, famous for his vocal support for the crypto industry, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) could have prevented the loss of $12 billion in assets by investors who trusted Celsius, a crypto lending platform, that froze their deposits in June.An official letter from Toomey to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, dated by July 26, suggested that the Commission’s inability to clarify how it would apply existing securities laws to digital assets and services, drew to undesirable repercussions. As Toomey writes: “Companies could have adjusted product offerings accordingly, preventing investor losses today, and the SEC would have been free to focus enforcement efforts on the worst actors.”According to Toomey, the SEC didn’t properly explain how the Howey and Reves tests applied to crypto lending platform products that paid interest to customers making crypto deposits. Instead, he emphasized, the SEC is choosing to regulate by selective enforcement. The senator mentioned the recent insider trading charges against a former employee of Coinbase, claiming that the SEC had a clear opinion on the securities’ status of these assets, yet it did not disclose that view publicly before launching an enforcement action. Starting from a dubious presupposition that most digital assets are securities, he notes, the SEC both makes it difficult for well-intentioned companies to comply and doesn’t serve great protection for customers with its regulation-by-enforcement style.Related: Bitcoin price falls under $21K, bringing more capitulation or just consolidation?As a result, the SEC’s continued refusal to give regulatory clarity to the crypto community, combined with “an apparently sluggish enforcement pace” harms not investors and innovation in general, according to Toomey.In conclusion, Toomey poses nine questions to Gensler with a request to respond by Aug. 9. Among them are proposition to publicly identify other major crypto lending companies that hold no registration under SEC; explain why the Commission has not included 16 out of 25 digital assets traded by the Coinbase employee into its charges, and others. On May 10, Toomey revealed his support for the Stablecoin Innovation and Protection Act, which would allow the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to back stablecoins in a manner similar to fiat deposits.

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Japan Ministry of Economy launches Web3 policy office

Japan Ministry of Economy launches Web3 policy office

Uverejnil používateľ | júl 26, 2022 |

In an important landmark for the buzzword, The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan opens its own Web3 Policy Office in the Minister’s Secretariat. The new entity commits to bringing together the departments responsible for industrial finance, taxation, corporate system, and those that deal with media and content, sports, fashion and the other entertainment industries. The July 15 announcement specifies the mission of the new office would be to strengthen the framework for examining business environment issues related to Web3:“Given that some entrepreneurs pursuing Web3-related business are leaving Japan for opportunities overseas, deliberations toward developing the business environment in Japan need to be accelerated.”According to the release, developing the business environment for Web3 will also include formulating policies. Hence, the “Web3 Policy Office” could become something more than just a consultancy body. Related: Half of Asia’s affluent investors have crypto in their portfolioIn July, the University of Tokyo, also known as Todai, announced its first range of study programs that will take place in the metaverse. The courses will be offered to students ranging from high school to adult learners in the workforce. Other notable applications of the metaverse in Japan over recent months include 29 trade schools under the NSG College League in Niigata holding their 2022 commencement ceremony in the metaverse and launching a virtual support room for Hikkikomori in the SecondLife Metaverse platform. Despite these vivid developments in Web3, Japanese regulators voice their anxiety on the matter of general crypto regulation. Speaking with journalists on July 18, an unnamed source “close to both industry and government” said that the current model of crypto regulation is faltering.

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The lasting agony of 3AC: Law Decoded, July 18-25

The lasting agony of 3AC: Law Decoded, July 18-25

Uverejnil používateľ | júl 25, 2022 |

The late spring and summer months of 2022 would be remembered not only for their extreme temperatures across the globe but also for a crushing streak of large crypto companies falling apart. Terra Lab in May, Celsius in June and now, the lasting agony of a Singapore-based crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC). Technically, 3AC was ordered for liquidation by a court in the British Virgin Islands on June 27, but it was last week, which has seen some further developments around the firm. The liquidators of 3AC are brutally demanding access to the company’s Singapore headquarters due to the “virtual radio silence from the management/directors of the Company.” They believe the office may contain cold wallets or information on how to access 3AC trading accounts, which the liquidators want to access before any of them is removed or destroyed. This desire is perfectly understandable, given the sums that had been loaned to 3AC by the creditors — they appeared to be far greater than in earlier reports. The scandal around failed hedge fund grew so big that the managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) even decided to publicly disavow the company’s ties to Singapore, claiming 3AC (and TerraForm Labs as well) had “little to do” with crypto regulation in the country. At the same time, the founders of 3AC have finally resurfaced after five weeks of no known whereabouts. In an interview, Su Zhu and Kyle Davies admitted their problem with bull market overconfidence and revealed their closeness to Terra, which had crystallized in a $500 million worth of investment going to zero. New raids in South Korea in the aftermath of Terra’s collapseAs the investigation into Terra’s collapse continues, prosecutors in South Korea have reportedly executed a search and seizure in 15 firms, including seven crypto exchanges. The list included such entities as Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax. Authorities reportedly obtained data related to TerraUSD Classic (USTC) (formerly UST) and Terra (LUNA) — now Luna Classic (LUNC) — transactions, in which roughly 200,000 Korean investors suffered losses following the tokens’ severe price devaluation and subsequent collapse in May. Continue readingSenior US officials will have to disclose their NFTs ownershipThe United States Office of Government Ethics (OGE) issued a legal advisory recommending various instances when senior government officials are required to disclose their investments in nonfungible tokens (NFTs). All NFT investments — both fractionalized (F-NFTs) and collectibles — worth $1,000 must be reported if “held for investment or production of income” at the end of the reporting period. Continue reading SEC objects to XRP holders aiding Ripple defenseThe case against Ripple rages on, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) wants to see certain “friends of the court” in support of Ripple be barred from providing legal aid to the defense. In its official objection filed on Tuesday but dated June 7, the regulator opposed the decision to recognize 1,746 Ripple (XRP) holders as “amici curiae” along with attorney John E. Deaton. The latter holds 3,252 affidavits signed by the token holders, essentially stating that they are victims of the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple as a result of lost profits.Continue reading

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Buying crypto with credit card is now indirectly banned in Taiwan

Buying crypto with credit card is now indirectly banned in Taiwan

Uverejnil používateľ | júl 22, 2022 |

Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), a chief financial regulator, issued a note to the banking industry, indicating that they should not grant the virtual assets providers (VASPs) the status of merchant in operations with credit card holders. That means a de-facto ban on buying crypto with a credit card on the island. As the local media reported on Thursday, July 21, The Financial Supervisory Commission sent a letter to the Association of Banks in early July, reminding the members of the Association of Banks that virtual assets are highly speculative and risky, and the cash flow is complex and challenging to monitor transactions effectively. The regulator has also specified that credit cards are essentially consumer payment tools, not investment and wealth management or payment tools with high speculative, high risk and high financial leverage transactions. It referred to the longstanding tradition of preserving credit card holders from paying for online gambling, stocks, futures and options, among other things. The FSC requires banks to adjust to the new guidelines within 3 months. After that, the audit unit must review its internal compliance and report the results to the regulator. It is not the first time FSC has taken action or voiced its skepticism about crypto. Last year, the regulator issued several press releases to remind the public of related risks associated with virtual assets. Related: Shanghai included blockchain, NFTs and Web3 in its 5-year planIn July 2021, Taiwan enacted the renewed anti-money laundering (AML) requirements for cryptocurrency exchanges, based on the Financial Action Task Force’s recommendation. At the end of June governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan), recommended a no-interest design for the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot. Taiwan is currently in the second stage of its CBDC pilot program, where its central bank provides the CBDC to five selected Taiwanese banks for distribution among consumers.

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Web3 platforms launch the Open Metaverse Alliance

Web3 platforms launch the Open Metaverse Alliance

Uverejnil používateľ | júl 21, 2022 |

Blockchain-based metaverse and Web3 platforms have decided to form an Open Metaverse Alliance for Web3 (OMA3) to overcome the interoperability challenges of the industry. Four core principles of the Alliance are said to be transparency, inclusiveness, decentralization and democratization. The joint organization was established by Alien Worlds, Animoca Brands, Dapper Labs, Space, Superworld, The Sandbox (SAND), Upland and Voxels. As the official announcement specifies, the means to overcome interoperability challenges would be focused on proposing standards and facilitating collaboration between various stakeholders of Web3 and other industries.OMA3 will be established as a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) to ensure a governance system that is “transparent and user-centric.” It will focus its efforts on specific metaverse-related topics, such as standards for nonfungible tokens (NFTs), protocols, transferable identity, portals between virtual worlds, mapping and indexing. The Alliance members intend to join the recently announced Metaverse Standards Forum — a constellation of Web3 companies, coordinating requirements and support for existing standards and developing standards relevant to the Metaverse. Related: Web3 dominates venture capital interest in blockchain industry in Q2 2022The Sandbox co-founder Sebastian Borget made an example of a digital avatar to illustrate the issues OMA3 is going to work on: “We want your Avatar can be more than just virtual representation, and also carries your reputation as anyone can see on-chain which NFTs you hold, earned, created or bought, the full history of transactions and as well hopefully the progression/actions you have contributed to throughout time.” The announcement promises to reveal further details of the OMA3’s outline during the Global NFT Summit in London on Fri. 

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