Every Friday, Law Decoded delivers analysis on the week’s critical stories in the realms of policy, regulation and law. Editor’s note The largest city in the United States and the world’s financial capital for most of the past century, New York City is also used to playing a starring role in the worlds of art,
Regulation
On June 26, Judge Kevin Castel signed the final judgment in the SEC v. Telegram case, which will require Telegram pay back $1.2 billion to investors in their ICO for the failed Telegram Open Network. Cointelegraph reported on the final judgment proposed yesterday. What has changed is the approval of the court, putting an end
Wirecard’s subsidiary responsible for issuing debit cards, Wirecard Card Solutions Ltd., has been suspended by the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority, or FCA. According to a statement issued on June 26 by the regulator, Wirecard’s subsidiary is required to not dispose of any of its funds, stop conducting any of its regulated activity, and it
On June 25, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission charged the issuer of AML Bitcoin — not to be confused with Bitcoin itself — with conducting a fraudulent offering. These charges follow up on a criminal filing in San Francisco from June 22. AML Bitcoin’s story Per the complaints, Rowland Marcus Andrade and his
The United States’s Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, has filed a proposal for final court judgement in regard of the terminated Telegram Open Network project. In a document filed on June 25, the SEC has asked the New York Southern District Court to order million dollar penalties to multiple defendants related to the case.
A judge has granted a motion from the U.S. attorney’s office to pause the SEC’s action against Edit Pardo and Boaz Manor for their involvement in the alleged $30 million crypto investment scam CG Blockchain. United States District Judge Stanley Chesler cited a parallel criminal investigation into Pardo and Manor in granting the motion to
In a June 24 webinar put on by the Chamber of Digital Commerce, major figures from the crypto community spoke about the growing role of stablecoins. Long-term view of stablecoins One of the guests was Jeremy Allaire, the founder of Circle, which is behind USD-backed stablecoin USDC. On the subject of stablecoins simplifying payments all
Brazil’s central bank has ordered Mastercard and Visa to suspend processing money transfers on behalf of Facebook’s WhatsApp. According to official information shared with Cointelegraph Brazil, the Central Bank of Brazil (BC) took action against WhatsApp Pay “to preserve an adequate competitive environment” and allow the central bank to assess the risks posed by the
There is an old saying in China: “Building the road is the first step to becoming rich.” Asian countries use infrastructure to boost the economy, and China is probably the most aggressive one — its annual average infrastructure spending is one of the highest at 8.3% of its gross domestic product from 2010 to 2015,
Regulators in Japan may be more inclined to approve new virtual currencies for trading if they have greater financial transparency and aren’t involved in gambling Dapps. According to a new report from Xangle Research on Japanese digital asset regulations, the country’s financial watchdog, the Financial Services Agency (FSA), specifically says crypto firms may be approved
Some entrepreneurs have been trying to increase data privacy by combining encryption and blockchain technology. There are projects like Oasis Labs and Enigma that focus entirely on preserving users’ privacy. Meanwhile, others have been focusing on preventing data retention by companies. Thus, there is no way to guarantee that personal data is deleted in a
The former vice-chair of the People’s Bank of China’s National Council for Social Security Fund, Wang Zhongmin, announced that China has completed the backend architecture development of China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC). Wang made the announcement during the online 2020 Fintech Forum organized by Tencent Fintech Research Institute and the Fintech 50 Forum in
From a technical viewpoint, blockchain is a growing records list that is cryptographically tied to and managed by a peer-to-peer network. At the same time, they join a protocol of communication among nodes to validate new blocks. Essentially, a blockchain is a way of validating data transactions in a permanent and immutable manner to guarantee
As with most of the globetrotting crypto and blockchain set, I find myself grounded. Me, in my Manhattan apartment for the past several months, watching the COVID-19 pandemic grow out of control while systems break down in spectacular fashion and frighteningly few politicians provide effective leadership. Compounding the effects of the health crisis is the
Many investment firms have launched crypto exchange-traded funds, but so far, none has found favor with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Firms keep trying, though, and this past week, two more tendered applications for crypto ETF-like products — if not pure-play Bitcoin ETFs have emerged. WisdomTree, an asset manager and ETF specialist, filed
Several data violations, like the Cambridge Analytica scandal, have brought forth questions regarding how companies and governments should deal with the data entrusted to them, and they have also increased the search for the development of new technologies to preserve the privacy of companies and users. Consequently, countries and regulators have rushed to set new