Newsfeed

Hervé Maurey, a member of the French Senate’s finance commission has proposed an amendment to the existing regulation that allows crypto companies to operate without a full license until 2026 to the French Parliament. If the amendment is passed, those crypto companies will need to apply for a license from the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) from October 2023. Maurey said the collapse of FTX led to the consideration of tighter crypto regulation in the country. The amendment was adopted by the Senate on 13 December and will be deliberated in Parliament in January 2023.

Tech giant Apple has reportedly planned to allow European customers to download apps on iPhone and iPad from marketplaces other than its App Store to comply with the European Union’s Digital Markets Act, which demands tech companies’ full compliance by 2024. The proposed change means the user could avoid the charge of 30% commission on any in-app purchases of NFTs by installing apps from external sources. However, Apple is still considering if it will allow developers to set up their payment system within apps, which could possibly include payment by cryptocurrency.

The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reportedly intended to tighten the guideline for the cryptocurrency industry with a particular focus on investor protection. The regulator highlighted the increasing use of “finfluencers” in crypto advertising, which it is one of the main areas it would work on. The amendment is deemed necessary after the collapse of FTX, Three Arrows Capital, the TerraUSD, Celsius Network and the local exchange, Zipmex. A committee has also been formed to evaluate and prepare the relevant amendments to existing regulations.

The Financial Stability Board (FSB), an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system is expected to lay out steps to regulate the cryptocurrency industry in early 2023. The timeline for global regulators to implement its first recommendation on global crypto regulation will be released in the following months. The Board’s outgoing secretary-general Dietrich Domanski said the recent events such as the collapse of FTX and Terraform havd reinforced the recognition that it was indeed urgent to address risks associated with the cryptocurrency industry. He added that the board aimed to create a regime where crypto service providers would be subject to the same standard as banks if they provide the same services that banks provide.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has reportedly been arrested in the Bahamas. The arrest was followed by a request by the US government based on a sealed indictment filed by the Southern District of New York informing the authorities in the Bahamas that he has been charged with multiple criminal offences, including wire and securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud and money laundering. Ryan Pinder, the Bahamas Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs said any extradition request would be processed promptly. The US Department of Justice was also investigating whether FTX had improperly transferred its assets when the exchange declared bankruptcy.

Marathon Digital Holdings CEO Fred Thiel said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call on 8 November that Marathon is now holding 11,300 Bitcoin, which is the world’s second-highest among listed companies. Thiel also added that the company has not disposed of any Bitcoin at the moment and would stick to this approach unless it deemed necessary to cover operating expenses or other expenses. However, the company recorded a net loss of $75.4 million in the third quarter, compared to a net loss of $22.2 million for the same period last year.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is reportedly proposing to annually review countries’ enforcement of AML and CTF rules on crypto providers. While a country failing to comply with the FATF’s AML guidelines for cryptocurrencies would not automatically be put on its grey list to become “Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring”, it could affect the country’s overall rating and is one of the factors considered by the watchdog. There are currently 23 countries on the list, including crypto hotspots such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Philippines.

Coinbase and Kraken reportedly experienced connectivity issues on 8 November, following the news of Binance that planned to acquire FTX. Coinbase said it was “experiencing network connection issues for Coinbase.com, Coinbase Pro, and Coinbase Prime” and users might have trouble signing in or experience slow loading across the web and the mobile app. The exchange attributes the issues to the overwhelming number of new users sign-ups and transfers to the platform on that day. Kraken, on the other hand, did not publicly address the issues.

Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, has reportedly signed a non-binding letter of intent with FTX to fully acquire http://FTX.com. The announcement came after Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said on Twitter that Binance would liquidate any remaining FTX Token on their books, which subsequently caused a liquidity crunch. FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said he had asked Binance to step in with the aim of clearing out liquidity crunches and ensuring all assets would be covered 1:1. The acquisition would not affect the company’s US business, which was shown in a 2021 audit that it covered only 5% of total FTX’s revenue. Zhao also said full due diligence would be conducted in the coming days and Binance has the discretion to withdraw from the deal at any time.

Co-founder and CEO of US-based crypto exchange Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, said at the Singapore FinTech Festival 2022 that Singapore’s ambition to become a Web3 hub is difficult to reconcile with its prohibition of retail trading. In response to his criticism, Sopnendu Mohanty, chief fintech officer of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, said that retail investors are still not aware of the risks they are exposed to. He also thought the crypto firms are responsible for protecting their customers given the highly speculative and volatile nature of crypto.

The Chinese city of Wuhan has reportedly abandoned its plan to include NFTs in the city’s metaverse development. The latest version of the Wuhan government’s industrial plan on the city’s metaverse development no longer mentioned NFTs, which originally appeared in the draft proposal in August. The latest report, however, still said the government would promote the development of Web3 and encourages companies to explore “decentralized operation models”. The government revealed in the report that it intends to cultivate or attract more than 200 metaverse companies in the city, and build at least two metaverse industrial estates by 2025.

The Canadian government has reportedly launched a consultation on cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) on 3 November. The government said the country’s financial system regulation needs to keep up with the development and transformation of its financial system brought by the rise in cryptocurrencies and the digitalization of money. It also revealed the intention to launch a financial sector legislative review focused on digitalization of money and maintaining financial sector stability and security to address the problems of using digital assets and cryptocurrencies for avoiding global sanctions and fund illegal activities domestically and abroad.