Allegations against Binance from French prosecutors “relates on the one hand to acts of illegal exercise” of operating as a digital asset service provider and “acts of aggravated money laundering, by competition with operations of investments, concealment, conversion, the latter being carried out by perpetrators of offenses having generated profits,” the Paris’ public prosecution office told CoinDesk. Source
OKX Middle East had been offering certain products and services in the region since last July. Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) has granted crypto exchange OKX a minimal viable product (MVP) preparatory license. This implies that the exchange is now cleared to fulfill all requirements to bag a full operational license in the region. According to a Thursday statement by OKX Middle East, once it receives this license, it will be able to extend its “approved suite of duly regulated virtual assets activities”. That is, it then can start…
The Blockchain Association, a prominent US crypto lobbying group, has lodged a formal inquiry with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to acquire information about the relatively unknown crypto firm, Prometheum. This move comes after Prometheum’s CEO, Aaron Kaplan, recently testified at a House hearing, expressing support for regulating cryptocurrencies under securities laws, in contrast to other industry proponents. On June 15, Marissa Coppel, counsel for the Blockchain Association, expressed skepticism about Prometheum’s regulatory approval as a special purpose broker-dealer (SPBD) for digital assets, especially given the SEC’s ongoing…
As many as 96% of the surveyed investors working for pension funds, wealth managers, family offices, hedge funds and investment funds see digital assets as representing an investment diversification opportunity alongside traditional asset classes such as fixed income, cash, equities and commodities, the survey found. They said they were prepared to stash as much as 5% of their investments in digital assets. Source
When launched in Europe, TMall will focus on selling local brands to local shoppers. It is not yet clear if TMall will be merged in any way with AliExpress which is already present in Europe. Chinese multinational conglomerate Alibaba Group Holding Limited (HKG: 9988) is planning to reach the European market by launching TMall, one of its key e-commerce platforms, in the region. The initiative marks significant progress in Alibaba’s international strategy and reflects the giant taking its own niche in the European market. Speaking at the Viva Tech conference in Paris,…
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 dismissing 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…
The startup is setting up a platform that will reward (in crypto) anyone who contributes new knowledge to the global science community ResearchHub, a crypto-based startup focused on advancing scientific research, may have just concluded a $5 million funding round. According to an official announcement, the round was led by Open Source Software Capital. Participation in the funding also came from Guillermo Rauch, Replit’s Amjad Masad, and RedHat’s Bob Young among others. ResearchHub to Deploy New Model of Funding According to ResearchHub co-founders Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Patrick Joyce,…
Global cryptocurrency exchange Binance has terminated its services in the Netherlands, making an exit from the Dutch market after a bid to obtain a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license failed. The termination of services is effective immediately, and no new customers from the Netherlands can open an account with the crypto exchange. From July 17 onwards, existing Dutch customers will only be able to withdraw assets from the Binance platform, and no further purchases, trades or deposits will be possible from today. Binance claimed it explored many alternative avenues to…
Earlier this year, the Seattle-based crypto exchange Bittrex announced its intent to wind down all its operations in the United States following heightened regulatory scrutiny by the SEC. After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a US Delaware federal court earlier, Seattle-based cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex Inc has been granted permission to allow its customers who meet the necessary regulatory requirements to access their accounts and withdraw their remaining digital assets. According to the announcement, Bittrex customers who have completed the Know Your Customer (KYC) verification processes and accepted the…
“I think if you look across the range of experiments that we have done in the Innovation Hub, increasingly in the CBDC space, whether it’s wholesale or retail, we are experimenting and exploring different dimensions, [such as] cross border, offline, security,” Hopwood Road said. Source