Regulation

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong announced it will update its policies on virtual currency sales and requirements “in light of the latest market developments and enquiries from the industry”. In an Oct. 20 notice, the SFC said under the updated guidelines, certain virtual currency products will only be available to professional

Crypto exchange Binance has announced it has onboarded new partners to handle euro deposits and withdrawals, months after losing its previous fiat partner PaySafe in September.  In an Oct. 19 statement, Binance announced that it had signed agreements with new fiat partners for euro payments, deposits, and withdrawals. The move follows regulatory and debanking woes

Lawyers representing the United States Securities and Exchange Commission announced they will seek to dismiss all claims against Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen. In an Oct. 19 filing in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the SEC notified the court that the parties involved in its case against

From privacy coins to shiny iris-scanning orbs, zero-knowledge proofs have become synonymous with crypto, scalability and privacy. In 2022, investors gave over $700 million in funding to companies pushing the envelope with zero-knowledge proofs. This year, ZK-proofs has arguably become one of the biggest blockchain trends, with several major Ethereum scaling protocols hitting mainnet. ZK-proofs

Stéphanie Cabossioras has stepped down from her role as the executive director of Binance France, becoming at least the 10th senior executive to leave Binance this year. In an Oct. 19 post on X (formerly known as Twitter), Binance France President David Prinçay confirmed Cabossioras’ departure and expressed his gratitude for her work at the

The Inspector General’s Office (OIG) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the independent United States government body that provides deposit insurance to commercial and savings banks, has published an evaluation report on the corporation’s crypto asset risk strategy. A redacted version of the report has been released to the public.  The FDIC adopted a

Ethereum restaking — proposed by middleware protocol EigenLayer — is a controversial innovation over the past year that has some of the brightest minds worried about the potential ramifications. Restaking involves reusing staked or locked-up Ether tokens to earn fees and rewards. The restaked tokens can then help secure and validate other protocols.  Proponents believe

The use of cryptocurrency by Hamas militants to fund recent attacks on Israel may have set back Coinbase’s crypto lobbying efforts in the United States, says a new investment report from Berenberg Capital Markets.  In an Oct. 18 research note, Berenberg lead analyst Mark Palmer said the primary driver of his “cautious stance” towards Coinbase

North Carolina Representative Patrick McHenry, chair of the United States House Financial Services Committee and crypto proponent in Congress, is still temporarily in the third most powerful role in government after one of his Republican colleagues failed to secure enough votes. In a vote conducted with members of the U.S. House of Representatives on Oct.

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance.US has updated its terms of service, hinting that direct withdrawals in United States dollars are no longer supported on the platform. Binance.US updated its terms of service on Oct. 16, modifying the section about the “BAM Fiat Wallet,” referring to Binance.US services related to U.S. dollar custody. In the updated terms, Binance.US

Nonfungible token (NFT) artist Ryder Ripps’ most recent attempt to dismiss the Bored Ape Yacht Club-related lawsuit against him appears to have fallen on skeptical ears. In an Oct. 17 hearing, three judges from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth District appeared largely unpersuaded by the arguments from the attorney representing Ripps

The administration of New York City Mayor Eric Adams released a plan for the adoption and regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) within the local government, along with a new integration into city applications.  On Oct. 16, the administration released an update saying it is developing a framework through which city agencies can “carefully” evaluate AI

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is open to using a central bank digital currency (CBDC) as the future of money, where state-issued digital money would represent a tokenized form of central bank reserves. In a speech titled “A Tokenised Future for the Australian Financial System,” Brad Jones, assistant governor (financial system) of the RBA, talked about

Australian crypto exchanges have praised plans from the Australian Treasury to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges under pre-existing financial services licensing measures. In an Oct. 16 consultation paper, the Treasury outlined a new suite of proposed regulations, that suggested regulating cryptocurrency exchanges under existing financial services rules as well as introducing a wealth of new guidelines for

The Australian federal government may soon require cryptocurrency exchanges to hold a financial services license issued by the local financial regulator, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC).  In the newly-unveiled “Regulating digital asset platforms” consultation paper, released on Oct. 16, the Australian Treasury said that the new regulatory framework aims to address consumer harms

California Governor Gavin Newsom has approved a cryptocurrency bill that enforces stricter regulations on businesses conducting crypto operations set to begin in 18 months.  In a statement published on October 13, Newsom declared that the bill titled the ‘Digital Financial Assets Law,’ would make it mandatory for both individuals and firms to obtain a Department